Dark Angel
by gummybear1620
Summary: Now a missing nin of his own will, Uzumaki Naruto protects Konoha from the shadows. He believes this is the only way he can live. But is this really the path he is supposed to walk? -BEING EDITED-
1. Prologue

**Edit, 5/12/12: **Hey new readers! This won't bother you, but I'm editing Dark Angel, starting today. Not much plot-wise (not that experienced yet, haha) but those small irritating grammar errors or sentences that bother me and probably you too. I'll keep my author's notes for sentimental reasons (but I don't like them, I was so childish back then xD) I'll add names for the chapter titles too, just because it's something I've always wanted to do :) So if you see some chapters with names and some without, know I'm going to get there eventually. And anyone who spots a mistake I've missed, please tell me! See you later and have fun reading!

**Edit, 7/4/12: **A/Ns will be removed for every single chapter, unless they aren't horribly annoying. Even if they aren't horribly annoying, I might remove them anyway as I edit. xD Some A/Ns at the bottom will be kept because they're necessary. Of course, even though the A/Ns are gone, that doesn't mean you can't review. REVIEWS ARE NICE. :)

**Disclaimer for whole fic: **I don't own Naruto, to my chagrin.

**Please note: **This splits from canon-storyline quite a bit. Characters become massively OOC (cough Naruto cough) later, as his personality basically goes from happy to cold. Yeah. I write in Japanese-style, meaning last names come first and I'll be using more of the Japanese versions of things versus English. Also, Madara is Tobi/Tobidara in this, because when I wrote it I didn't know that Kishimoto would pull a massive troll over us and reveal Tobi was not, in fact, Madara. Oops, spoiler. :P

Everything finally said... Please enjoy Dark Angel! ^_^

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><p><strong>Dark Angel: Prologue<strong>

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><p><em>Even after all I did for you, this is how you repay me… <em>_By forgetting me. _–Naruto, in Dark Angel

_You say if you could fly, you'd never come back. _–Lyrics from Bluebird, by Ikimono Gakari

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><p>Other than the nearly soundless wisp of wind blowing past the wreckage, Konoha was utterly and eerily silent.<p>

Never had it ever been this quiet, not even at the dead of night. And never had Konoha been blasted to this range of destruction. It was as if the mighty village had never even existed.

Uzumaki Naruto stared in complete shock at his former home.

He was standing on a chunk of what had used to be the great wall surrounding the village. Now, it was nothing more than rubble and debris. His gaze traveled blankly over the splinters of cracked houses, shingles of broken roofs, but tried to avoid the pitiful tiny bodies of the children and larger forms of the adults.

_What had happened while he was gone?_

Why hadn't anyone come and fetched him? It's wasn't like he was turning into half-toads on the stupid mountain eating bugsfor _fun! _It was so he could prevent precisely this from happening, because Naruto wasn't stupid. He knew what—or rather who—had arrived looking for the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki.

Pein. Akatsuki.

And he had completely decimated Konohagakure.

Naruto began running, hardly aware of what he was doing. Even when his feet carried him within an inch of the crumpled figures lying on the ground, not one stirred. In a panic, he ran faster and faster toward the center of the village, marred by a giant crater. And then—

He stopped dead in his tracks.

No. Please, don't let that be who he thought it was. No, _no, __**no, NO! **_Fists trembling, Naruto couldn't stop himself from stepping closer…and closer. Even when he stood right in front of the corpse, it was laughable. Kakashi, dead? Please! The great Copy-Ninja couldn't just up and _die! _But, that was exactly what it looked like.

Naruto spoke for the first time since he'd come back. "K…Kakashi-sensei?"

No answer.

Louder. "Kakashi-sensei!" No answer. Naruto knelt in front of the masked, gray-haired man, and reached out to shake his shoulders. Wedged between two large rocks, the corpse didn't move much. He knew the instant his hands met cold flesh that his sensei was dead, but that didn't mean he had to acknowledge it. "Kakashi-sensei! Wake up! Please?"

A while later, Naruto became aware of a sharp knife-like pain in his chest, and the hot tears that were running down his cheeks. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, he spoke again, head bowed. "First Jiraiya-sensei, now Kakashi-sensei. Will all my teachers be taken away?" His hand was pressed to his chest, right above his heart. Naruto could feel it thumping erratically beneath the thick orange cloth. A voice whispered somewhere in his head: _Now you know the feeling of losing bonds…_

_Like Sasuke._

Naruto jerked, his eyes opening wide. "Sasuke…" he mumbled. He stumbled to his feet and backed away from Kakashi. Something caught his eye, and he turned his head to see Chouji lying on the ground, immobile.

"Augh!" he cried. _Another one? _However, when he looked closer, he could see the slight differences between this man and Chouji—it was his dad. Who else hadn't survived?

Wind rushed in Naruto's ears as he leaped over the carnage. Escape was the only thing on his mind. _No more! No more! I don't want to lose any more! I don't want to ever have this feeling again!_

But when he caught a flash of pink in the corner of his vision, Naruto fought the urge to run and run and run forever. _Sakura-chan! _the logical part of his mind urged. _Check on Sakura-chan! _Then an unfamiliar, growling voice intruded.

_**Weak.**_

That was it. That was the only thing the voice said, but Naruto cringed like he'd been punched.

_**You're weak. How can you ever save anyone like this? How can you ever bring Sasuke back when you're…so **_**weak**_**? **_A low, spine-crawling laugh._**That's it. You can't. If you stay, you'll just lose more precious people- not that **_**I **_**know what 'precious people' are. Bonds are weak. Hatred makes you strong. **__**Look at Sasuke. **__**He's an avenger, fueled by pain and blood.**_

Naruto gritted his teeth. Damn Kyuubi for picking this moment to appear! The fox knew his weak moments entirely too well, and seized every chance it could to escape. The voice rang on in his mind, and he could picture all too well the giant orange fox baring its dagger-teeth in laughter. _**You know what, I'll make a deal with you.**_

He couldn't help but listen, because somewhere deep inside him he felt that the Kyuubi really did intend to do something to help Naruto. Question was: should he take the gamble? _Do you want to lose more people? _The logical voice had long since been crushed away, and the sniveling voice was back—the one that had said, "_Now you know the feeling of losing bonds…"_

_What? _Naruto asked the kitsune.

_**Leave Konoha.**_

Huh? Naruto blinked quickly for a few seconds before snarling in his head, _Are you crazy? Why would I do that? Konoha is my home!_

_**You will be able to protect Konoha if you leave.**_

_That doesn't make any sense!_

_**You wanted to know. Nobody said you had to accept it. Of course, I've lived a long time, child, and I know what is best. **_The growly voice lowered to something that resembled a throaty purr. _**This only requires two things that are relatively easy to accomplish. One, you must become a missing-nin. Two, you must never associate with any of your precious people again!**_Naruto's eyes widened as the Kyuubi's words hit home, his mouth opening. **_Don't interrupt until I'm done! Hasn't anyone taught you manners? Oh wait... right, you're an orphan. How could I have _forgotten_?_**

Anger blazed across his face. _Are you done?_!

The voice gave a chuckle. _**Patience is a virtue… **_The fox was making fun of him! The fox was making _fun _of _him! **S**__**omething you obviously don't have, along with a brain. Why couldn't I have been stuck in the Uchiha? Stop running! I'm talking, aren't I? **_

_Then freaking talk already! _

_**If you agree with the two conditions, all that's left is the fun part. **_Naruto could feel the Nine-Tails grinning madly. Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to see into the demon's mind. But only sometimes.

_**All that's left is picking off the Akatsuki and the missing-nin. See? This way, child—**_get a new nickname, Naruto thought, but the fox ignored him—_**you're protecting Konoha by preventing any further—disaster zones. And then you might become strong enough to bring Sasuke back. **_There was a delirious snort, and then Naruto could just barely feel the Kyuubi muttering something along the lines of _"Not that the villagers would welcome you…"_

Naruto stared at his hands. The fox was asking him to become a missing-nin and leave everyone behind, just so…

So no one else died.

_**Well? Do we have a deal?**_

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><p>Fukasaku strained his aging eyes and tried to make out what he was seeing.<p>

Just because the eyes saw it didn't mean the brain processed it.

It appeared to the Great Sage Toad that the dark form in a red coat with black flames was Naruto…

…and he was going away from the village.

"Naruto!" he shouted. "Where are you going?"

But Naruto didn't stop, and kept going until he vanished among the trees. "Naruto!" he shouted again, starting to hop after him, when his wife said softly:

"Let him go. We've trained him hard enough now.

"_From now on, it's Naruto's choice which path he walks on._"

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><p>Night fell in silent swoops of raven's wings, enveloping Naruto as he jumped from tree branch to tree branch.<p>

_I am a missing-nin now._

_I can never go back._

_I…_

_Am gone._

The peaceful silence was broken abruptly.

_**Now, don't think like that...**_

_Shut up! You're not the one leaving. You're not the one who's losing friendships! You're just a monster who has _nothing _to lose and _everything _to gain! _Naruto snarled in his head, and felt faintly surprised when the Nine-Tails actually shut up and seemed to vanish into his cage again.

That aside, Naruto fell back into his melancholy state.

Hours later, when the moon was high but the sky hadn't yet started to brighten, Naruto finally sat down to rest. He still was acting the way a robot would, jerky but responsive, and the Kyuubi hadn't tried to talk again. Leaning his head back against the rough bark of the tree, Naruto couldn't help but feel incredibly lonely as he set to the task that would ultimately cut the ties that bound him to Konoha.

_This is all for you. The 'King' that Shikamaru was always talking about. The unborn children of the village. I am protecting the village, honoring my promises. _He had to repeat those words like a mantra so he wouldn't forget his new dream in life. The Hokage one was long discarded in the ashes of despair and pain.

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><p><em>Naruto walked through the corridors of his mind. It wasn't in the dreary watery sewer pipes that lead to the fox's cage, but a pure black tiled passage. Soon, he came to a room that had a soaring roof, and what seemed to be a tiny skylight far, far away. All around the room were gilded silver cages.<em>

_No one could say Naruto didn't have an active imagination._

_This was the room where Naruto kept all his precious people- all the memories, good and bad._

_And now it was time to set them free, if he really wanted to be…t__he perfect killer._

_"This is good-bye," Naruto told the people in the cages. They never stood still, but fluctuated in between all the various memories he'd had of them. _

_There was pink-haired Sakura-chan, his first love. Ino-'pig', Sakura's best friend and rival. Lazy Shikamaru, Konoha's resident genius, and Chouji, who always had a bag of chips. The memories floated, as if in a current, up and out the white skylight. Naruto continued along the front of the room, making sure to lock the cages so the memories couldn't return._

_Dog-breath Kiba and his not-so-small puppy Akamaru; creepy bug-dude Shino (and I never did get to see his eyes); shy, bashful Hinata who, for some reason, always turned red around him… Youthful Lee, with his crazy goals; stoic Neji who no longer believed in destiny; the weapons' mistress Tenten. Konohamaru, his own 'rival', named after Konohagakure. _

I guess you'll become the Rokudaime Hokage after all, _Naruto thought as he watched the black-haired boy run up and out. Even crazy Sai was there, but in time he too was let free of his cage, just like everyone else: t__he Sand's Kazekage, Gaara, who thought no one would ever love him. His siblings, Temari and Kankuro, the wind user and puppet master. Gai-sensei, Lee's insane teacher. Kurenai-sensei, the red-eyed beauty, Tsunade-baa-chan, who had so fondly tucked him under her wing and even gifted him with her prized necklace. Yamato-taichou, their replacement sensei. Shizune, Tsunade's assistant. _

_And Iruka-sensei, the first to accept Naruto._

_Finally, Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto's own rival and best friend. The one who'd tried to kill him, the one who had been willing to die for him, the one who Naruto still believed was his friend despite everything between them. Sasuke stared wordlessly, eyes as opaque as ever, when Naruto silently opened the door. Still without speaking, he left. "I'll bring you back," Naruto whispered… but there was no heart, no conviction, in his words. Somehow, they both knew that when this was all over, Naruto would be a very different person from who he was now._

_All the living people were gone. Naruto moved silently to the dead's section, hidden far back in the room, almost overshadowed by the brilliance of the living. But when one approached, they could see the gleaming bars that always looked freshly polished, proving Naruto still remembered them, because he knew how lonely it was to be forgotten._

_There was Lady Chiyo, who'd given her life to bring Gaara back. Asuma-sensei, Team 10's teacher, who'd died facing Hidan and Kakuzu. The Third Hokage, who had too taken care of Naruto. __And Jiraiya-sensei, still loud and pervy even in the memories. Naruto felt an ache in his chest, and quickly opened the cage. The ache didn't go away, however, because the next cage belonged to Kakashi. Kakashi, in the current memory, was just reading a book. He glanced up when Naruto reached his cage, and said, "Ah, Naruto."_

_Naruto smiled sadly._

_"I guess it's time for me to go then. Promise you'll protect the village no matter what?" When Naruto nodded, having no voice, Kakashi smiled his curving-eye smile. "Good." Kakashi began to leave, still holding his Icha Icha Paradise book. And then, when he was almost so far away Naruto couldn't hear, he called_ (one last goodbye),_ "Remember! Those who don't follow the rules are scum…but those who abandon their teammates are worse than scum."_

_Naruto stared after his sensei, even though Kakashi was gone. Head lowering, he went to the next and last cage, and stared at himself._

_It was a younger Naruto, the resentful one who'd been rejected entirely by the villagers. By everyone. Then the image flickered to the Naruto who'd been loved by friends, who'd known the meaning of 'bonds' for the first time. Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba, Neji, Lee, Gaara; they all couldn't be completely released until younger Naruto was gone._

_The last image was the Naruto coming back, coming home, after three years. Matured, but still the moron. With unreadable, indescribably blue eyes, the one in the cage observed the newest Naruto before him, the soon-to-be 'protector' of Konoha._

_Naruto smiled again._

_"Ja."_

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><p>A few weeks later, Uzumaki Naruto was officially declared a missing-nin.<p> 


	2. Chapter 1: Longing for the Past

**Edit, 5/12/12: **I won't add an 'edit' note at the top of every chapter, but I might just write 'edited' and the date, or something. This edit note was necessary because I need to tell you to ignore the author's note below; it was a bunch of random gibberish that doesn't make sense if you've read the edited prologue. And chapter titles are changing starting with this chapter. Also, if anyone **doesn't understand WHY exactly Naruto left last chapter**- it's because he was in a vulnerable state at the time after losing someone and witnessing the destruction of the village. The Kyuubi took advantage of this state, and coerced him into leaving Konoha, and convinced him that staying away would be better for everyone. Everyone has a breaking point; that was Naruto's.

And yus, I have long quotes for a lot of the chapters. Just so you know ;)

**Edit 7/4/12: **A/Ns are now removed, except for some of the one at the bottom as it was necessary for the story.

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><p><strong>Dark Angel: Longing for the Past<strong>

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><p><em>Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for. <em>–Dag Hammarskjold

_Don't worry, I'll protect them too. Everything that Kakashi-sensei taught me, my comrades…I'll protect them. Our village, our comrades…the children… We won't even have a future unless we protect the most important thing of all. I must protect the village! Abiding by the rules is how a shinobi lives. And Leaf shinobi protect their comrades, even at the risk of their own lives! I want to protect it! The village I love, and the future generation of villagers… I want to protect them both! _–Naruto, in the movie Naruto Shippuden 3: Inheritors of the Will of Fire

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><p><em>Woosh.<em>

The only sign that someone had been there was the rustling of tree leaves as the shadowed figure flew by in speeds too fast to see clearly the identity of the person. The figure kept jumping from tree branch to tree branch with the ease of one who's lived their life in trees, even adding a few acrobatic flips into the mix, and obviously mocking the prey.

The speeding shape—or 'prey'—now only a mere twenty-five feet from the 'predator' glanced over its shoulder, at the even faster blur making its way toward the first shape. His eyes widened when he saw his pursuer so close.

That slight hesitation was the prey's downfall. Moving so fast that the predator left behind a black and yellow smudge in the air, he leaped down from his perch on the tree branches and tackled the prey. The prey managed to let out a strangled scream before he hit his head—hard—against the ground. Now the only noise the prey made was a low moaning.

The predator, satisfied, got off his prey and took out a kunai from a hidden pouch under his black cloak. "Stand up," the predator ordered, leveling a stare at the prey that would've made Uchiha Sasuke proud. "I thought S-rank missing-nins were better than this." His voice was low and had almost a gravelly tone to it. Some, though, referred to it as 'growling'.

After a few cuts and threats, the prey finally stood, shaking. The predator smiled... _bloodthirstily._"Ready to play?" The prey didn't respond except to quake some more. Then—

"_Water release: Flood!_"(1)

Water instantly began flooding the trees and small clearing. The predator cursed and quickly lunged forward with the kunai, aiming at the throat, but the second the metal touched skin, the prey melted into water.

"Water Clone Jutsu, huh? Two can play at this game." The predator grinned and performed several quick hand seals, eyes scanning around the forest as he did so. As time had relentlessly worn on, he'd performed the jutsu so many times that the seals were burned into his memory. Quickly, a couple dozen black-cloaked figures stood on the still rising water. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" he called as the clones took off in all different directions, like ravens flapping away into the night.

Suddenly, the predator noticed a small disturbance under the water, and leaped off the surface of the liquid just as a hand grabbed up—and got nothing. "Ha!" the predator barked, flipping away into the nearby forest. He observed the still-rising water casually, noting the unusual thickness of it. _Chakra infused… It's Zabuza and Haku all over again. Only this guy isn't half as good. _He smirked, and noticed the prey flashing into hand signs. Ox, monkey, hare, rat, boar, bird, ox, horse, bird… The prey was definitely trying to do the Water Dragon Bullet Technique.

The predator stood, masking his chakra, and performed a quick seal just as the prey finished his long string of signs. "_Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!_" Granted, the predator didn't know that many earth jutsus, but the few he knew came in handy whenever he was facing a Kirigakure missing-nin.

The dragon crashed into the earth wall, the dark shadow already flipping backward and performing more seals. Just when the water dragon crushed its way through the wall, the predator took a deep breath and finished the last seal.

So when the prey, certain he was going to win, eagerly waited the sight of his predator being smashed into oblivion by his water dragon…well, he was _very _disappointed and _very _afraid.

Because waiting for him on the other side of the earth wall was another dragon, only made out of mud; brown with glowing gold eyes. The predator was on top of the cliff in which the dragon's head was protruding from.

"Thank you for letting me lead you here!" the predator called. The prey gritted his teeth and was just about to do another jutsu when the mud dragon opened its jaw. Out spewed mud bullets that decimated his water dragon in a matter of seconds, and before he knew it, the missing-nin was down for the count, struck in the head by another particularly strong bullet. One couldn't survive _two _blows to the head without at least passing out.

The predator laughed, loud and clear. The sound carried through the trees, bouncing off wood and stone and echoing till it almost reached Konoha. The dragon melted away, and the water vanished into the ground, but still the predator went on laughing. "Too easy! Too easy!" he finally choked out, clutching his stomach. "To think _you _were in the elite bingo book."

He ignored the fact that he himself was in multiple bingo books around the shinobi world.

The predator jumped off the cliff, landing easily on his feet. "Who should I deliver this to? Konoha probably won't want another gift. They're rich enough already. Maybe I should make another side trip to Suna?" he thought aloud, tapping a finger against his chin and furrowing his brow. "But then again, another strong—psh, hopefully—missing-nin is said to be passing by soon. And he's from Otogakure too. Haven't faced an Oto-nin since Kabuto! Who would've thought he was so easy to kill?"

He blinked at the prey, who was beginning to stir. "Oh shut it." Almost absentmindedly, he reached out with a new kunai and slit the throat. But if anyone was watching, they'd have noticed the predator avert his face just slightly so he couldn't see the fresh blood pouring out.

Then, the predator continued on talking as if nothing had just happened.

"I guess one more to Konoha wouldn't hurt." He tugged open his black cloak, revealing a bright orange jacket underneath, and fumbled around the inside flap of the cloak. Pulling out a dull brown book, he proceeded to flip it open and scan it. "Ah. Here this guy is. Kirigakure missing-nin since twelve years ago. Murdered three villages and multiple jounin and even a couple ANBU. If whole body, 30,000,000 ryo. Head, 28,000,000. Being stingy, aren't they?"

The predator sighed, tucked the book away, and hauled up the body. Like an afterthought, he placed his hand on the prey's chest, and a bright flash of chakra lit up the dim forest. When the light dissipated, a mark was left on the corpse: a pair of light blue angel's wings.

Satisfied, he placed the dead man over his shoulder, and vanished off toward Konoha, throwing just one bright blue-eyed glance behind him.

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><p>"<em>WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?<em>"

"I-it's true, ma'am! There's been another one!"

"Gah!" The blonde woman clenched her fist and narrowly restrained herself from punching her desk for the millionth time since he had left. The only reason she didn't, actually, was because Shizune threatened not to get her another if she broke her current one. And as much as she didn't want to admit it, she needed that desk, if only to hold her precious alcohol.

The woman slammed open her desk drawer and grabbed a clear bottle of said alcohol. She uncorked it quickly and took three big gulps before the raven next to her noticed and grabbed it away. "Tsunade! You know better than to drink while you're working."

"I'd hardly call this working," the Fifth Hokage muttered, eyeing the sake wistfully. The chunin in the front of the room cleared his throat nervously and stayed out of range of Tsunade's fists. "Yes?" she asked, glaring at him. "Continue your report."

"The body was found near the main gate by Hagane Kotetsu, ma'am," the chunin stammered. He rushed the sentence, hoping to quickly get done and away.

"Condition? And speak slower, or else I'll crack your skull!"

"Tsunade!" Shizune objected. The Fifth Hokage just shot a dirty look at her assistant.

"Gimme my sake and I'll be nicer." Shizune sighed and nodded her head toward the chunin, who looked quite afraid.

"Uh…the condition of the body… Kamizuki Izumo reported that the head of the corpse looked like it had suffered some internal damage, most likely from being hit against hard surfaces. There was a gash across the throat, made by a kunai. There was mud on his face, but that could've just been because of being dragged through dirt. Besides that and some minor cuts on the body, there was no physical damage." The chunin shifted, ever-so-slightly edging toward the door.

You see, a certain series of events that had happened in the past two years had made the already volatile Hokage even more unpredictable. Or crazy. Whichever. Those events had included Naruto being gone, stuck in a coma for three weeks, having to declare Naruto a missing-nin practically the second she woke up, having Danzou try (and fail, when he had died against Madara) to become Hokage…

"What surprised me," said a new voice from the door, "was the remarkably small amount of damage done to the body."

The chunin glanced behind him and exclaimed in relief, "Haruno-san! Hokage-sama, if it's okay…" Tsunade snorted and waved him away, the chunin nearly tripping over himself in his haste to depart.

"You need to stop scaring the kids," Shizune mumbled, discreetly putting the bottle of sake on the windowsill behind her. The window gently creaked when she pushed it open, and by the time Tsunade turned to look for the source of the gentle breeze blowing in, her precious drink was already tumbling head over end down the length of the Hokage Tower.

Tsunade shrieked and grabbed the front of Shizune's dark blue kimono. "YOU-! That was my last bottle!"

Her assistant laughed uncertainly and shot a pleading look at Sakura. "Sakura, would you mind…?"

Sakura sighed, walking around the desk to the furious blonde woman. Eventually, Shizune was released, and she fled the room too. Sakura stood in front of her mentor. "Are you ready to listen to sense, Tsunade-shishou?"

Instantly, the Hokage sobered and stared at her student. "Is it…him again?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. There was something infinitely sad about her eyes, the sadness of someone who's lost too many dear ones to keep track. Sakura lowered her head; that was all the answer Tsunade needed. She let out her breath and put her arm up to support her head. All of a sudden, the young-looking woman seemed her true age: somewhere in the fifties, nearing the sixties now.

"The Dark Angel, shishou." Sakura's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Naruto…"

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><p><em>(Flashback)<em>

_After Pein had destroyed Konoha, about half of the village survived. The few days after the attack were mostly spent burying the dead, marking names on the memorial stone, and trying to send messages to the Leaf's allies._

_Sakura spent her time with the aged Tsunade, who was still in a coma._

_The entire original Rookie 9—except Naruto and Sasuke—and Team Gai visited their leader. Shizune kept a constant vigil too, along with Tonton. No one noticed that Naruto wasn't there. They assumed that Naruto was safe with the toads, far away, where Pein's Paths couldn't reach._

_It wasn't until almost a week had passed that Fukasaku showed up._

_He appeared in front of the Hokage's tent one morning, asking to see Tsunade. Danzou, who'd been declared 'temporary' Hokage in Tsunade's stead, had sneered and told the legendary toad to hurry up and leave Konoha. Where was Naruto anyway, if his _'sensei'_ was here?_

_Fukasaku realized something was wrong when Danzou had talked about Naruto. None of the village had realized Naruto had left! So he'd gone from tent to tent until he found Sakura. Incidentally, Sai was with her at the time, and he had quickly sent out ink mice to fetch the Konoha 12—well, now Konoha 10. Once all were assembled, he told the unbelievable story of how Naruto had left Konoha._

_Slowly, he'd convinced them. Everyone had been shocked. Sakura recalled Hinata's paler than usual face, Kiba's wide eyes, Ino's confused ones, and Shikamaru's 'focused face'. _

_But yet, nobody went after Naruto._

_The reasons had ranged from waiting for Tsunade to wake, to Danzou not allowing them out. Sakura knew the real reason: everyone was afraid. Afraid of fighting Naruto, wondering if the Nine-Tailed Fox had finally escaped. Naruto wouldn't leave on his own. He was _Naruto_, for God's sake. Uzumaki Naruto, whose dream was to become Hokage. Who was their friend. Their support._

_Even when Tsunade had been forced by the Council to declare him a missing-nin—and thus, killable if caught—Naruto's friends had believed that was his dream._

_That was, until they got the letter._

_Sakura spent her days worrying about Naruto, training under her shishou, and worrying about Naruto. She was now the only one left of the original Team 7. Even Kakashi was gone._

_The world seemed bleak._

_Then, about two months after he'd left, she went into Tsunade's office only to find her and Shizune poring over a scroll. Figuring it was just another medical jutsu, she'd turned to leave for the library. Tsunade stopped her. "Sakura! Come here." Once Sakura stood in front of her, she continued. "I don't know how to put this lightly, so basically…Naruto has written to us."_

_Sakura's eyes widened and she'd snatched the scroll, eyes eagerly devouring the words of her teammate._

'Tsunade-baa-chan, Sakura-chan, and the rest of Konoha…

'I bet you didn't expect to hear from me again, did you? I wonder if all is going well there. I hope you're rebuilding the village successfully. I'm not going to waste time writing, when another missing-nin is due here in about three minutes. I'm sorry if you can't read my handwriting.

'As all of Konoha must know now, I am the Kyuubi's container. I won't apologize for leaving, because now I can protect you better than before. When I couldn't protect you at all…

'I'm different now. This must seem weird to you, but I…am reformed. Basically.

'That's pretty much it. Except I have a few words for you: Tsunade-baa-chan, don't be hesitant to cash in the bodies. You need the money for Konoha. Sakura-chan… Don't blame yourself. Kakashi died protecting Konoha. Sasuke left for his dream. I left for mine. You're not alone, Sakura-chan. Remember that. I'll keep my promise and make Sasuke go back to Konoha. And Konohamaru: become a good Hokage.'

_Those words had made Sakura's eyes well up. How did Naruto always know the right things to say? But what hurt the most was the last sentence. It symbolized that Naruto…_

…_well, had given up his dream._

_And those words: "…make Sasuke go back…" It meant that Naruto wouldn't be coming back with him._

"_There's more," Tsunade said softly._

'I'll be Konoha's protector.

'Signed,

'Uzumaki Naruto

'Dark Angel

'P.S. You'll know if I failed, if I died, when the world ends.'

_On the letter was a chakra burn in the shape of angel's wings. _

_The same shape had showed up on the first missing-nin's body four days later._

_Naruto didn't send another letter._

* * *

><p>"The same mark is on this body as well as the others. 30,000,000 ryo." Sakura gazed out the window, ignoring the pain grinding tight in her chest. "He's really not coming back, is he?" Tsunade looked at her student, before putting a hand up to clutch the turquoise First Hokage's necklace.<p>

Naruto had sent it back along with his letter. That had crushed something in Tsunade. Another one of her own precious people had done the equivalent of dying. The necklace hadn't helped Naruto achieve his dream of Hokage, just like Dan and Nawaki.

"Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke-kun. Naruto." Sakura turned away so Tsunade wouldn't see the tears in her eyes. The Hokage turned her chair so the back faced the front of the room and stared out at the village she'd sworn to protect, pretending not to hear the catch in Sakura's voice.

"Will you ever come back?"

* * *

><p>"I knew you'd be here."<p>

Inuzuka Kiba bounded into view on top of Akamaru, the dog barking at the sight of Hinata. She looked up, surprised, and gasped. "Kiba-kun! What are you doing here?" Over the years, her voice hadn't grown any louder, and her dark blue hair was the same length as two years ago. She'd grown maybe an inch taller and if anything, even more beautiful. Those were the only changes of Hyuuga Hinata.

"I was looking for you," Kiba told her. He got off Akamaru and sat down on the grass next to Hinata. Akamaru barked again and lay down in the grass to sleep. Kiba rolled his eyes before glancing at the memorial stone Hinata sat in front of. "Kurenai-sensei wants us to meet at the main gates in five for a mission. I'm supposed to find Shino too, but I bet he knows already with his creepy spy-bugs."

Hinata giggled softly. "Don't be mean! They're …" She trailed off, unable to find a suitable compliment for Shino's chakra bugs. Kiba burst out in laughter.

"Remember that time Naruto completely forgot Shino's name? That was so funny! Especially when he remembered ours!" Kiba fell over, but not because of his laughter.

"Don't mention that again," the last member of their team said in a low voice from above Kiba, foot outstretched because he'd just kicked Kiba. "Or else."

Kiba held up his hands in an 'okay, okay' gesture. "You're scary sometimes, Shino." Shino snorted and walked off, hands in pockets. Hinata reluctantly stood too.

"We better go, Kiba-kun. We don't want to leave Kurenai-sensei waiting." She looked back at the shiny memorial stone again, eyes tracing over the names engraved in it. Kiba followed her gaze and sighed.

"Are you going to spend all of your free time here, forever?" Kiba asked, nudging Akamaru to get him up. He crossed his arms, feigning the annoyance that masked his concern. "Listen. We all miss Naruto, and his loud hyper-activeness. I don't understand why he would leave either, but you can't just waste your life on him. You have to go on. Leave the past behind and all that." Kiba scratched the back of his head when Hinata didn't respond. "I'm sorry, but that's that. He won't come back Hinata. Not even if you stare at the memorial stone all year, no one's going to engrave Naruto's name on it, and he won't return."

When she still remained silent, he tugged at her arm worriedly. "Well- I'm sorry, okay? I… It's not true." He didn't like to lie to his teammate, but whenever Naruto's name came up, she instantly seemed to freeze into a statue.

Finally, Hinata moved, turning away from Kiba. "It's fine, Kiba-kun. Let's go."

Kiba caught a glimpse of her shining eyes when she turned, and the tears that were threatening to fall from them.

He waited till Hinata was a bit of a distance away before muttering, "Girls."

* * *

><p><strong>(1) I kinda made it up. I remember in one of the Naruto Shippuden episodes, Kisame is attacking Team Gai, and then, he creates a lake or something. So that's what's going on here…<strong>

**Kiri: Water. Oto: Sound. Suna: Sand. **


	3. Chapter 2: Birthday

**Edit, 6/5/12: **Wow, took me a while to edit this chapter. Erm, I really hate the author's note below...so please please please skip it. And in the original version of this chapter, I had originally (stupidly) inserted a/n's into the middle of the text, which is really not a good idea as it messes up the flow (as a reader kindly pointed out to me). I have taken the liberty of deleting those, so you have a smooth, easy-reading chapter ^^

Please note: I take no credit for the cover image of Dark Angel.

**Edit, 7/4/12: **A/Ns now removed.

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Birthday<strong>

* * *

><p><em>Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody. <em>–Stephen Chbosky

_Natsuhiboshi / Why are you so red? / Because, I had a sad dream last night / My eyes are red from the tears I've shed / Swollen as I cried. / Natsuhiboshi / Why've you lost your way? / I'm searching for a child whose gone afar / He can't be found, though I've searched all day / My sad dreams come once more. _–Lyrics from Natsuhiboshi, English dubbed version

* * *

><p>Slowly, centimeter by centimeter, inch by inch…<p>

Time dragged on.

Another month went by, and every day, the people who had befriended and acknowledged Uzumaki Naruto lost a tiny bit of their concept of who Naruto really was. But no matter how much they remembered or what they had to do that day, the original Rookie 9—what was left of it—and Gai's team all gathered on October 10.

Naruto's birthday.

Konoha held their usual festival, uncaring about Naruto. In fact, some of the villagers had even seemed to forget a jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi even existed. And that was what hurt Sakura the most. As loud, obnoxious, _annoying_ as Naruto had been, he didn't deserve to be forgotten, and that was why Sakura treasured her memories of Naruto almost more than her memories of Sasuke. In her mind, she usually pictured the three of them together, with Kakashi-sensei, after a mission…or after a team-bonding exercise…or even just walking together.

The days of the past.

She didn't understand how the villagers could forget. How could they, when Naruto was the one paying about sixty percent of the village's paychecks? How could they not notice Konoha flourish over the past two years, especially after Naruto had become the Dark Angel? It wasn't like Naruto was stealthy or anything about dropping the bodies off. He didn't even wait for nightfall. Villagers had seen the bodies, the chakra marks, and heard the ample rumors swirling around, just waiting to be snapped up and spat out with even more wrong facts than before.

Yet they forgot.

Sakura just didn't understand it.

* * *

><p>October 10 came upon Konoha as freshly crisp as all the previous fall days before it. Civilians woke surprisingly early to prepare a special breakfast for their loved ones before they woke, laughing and joking, not even caring that this day used to hurt a certain blond ninja's feelings very much.<p>

Used to.

It wasn't like Naruto was in Konoha to despise it anymore.

Shikamaru supposed that that was one good thing that came out of this mess, as he walked down the street with his hands behind his head. He was still a chunin, being too 'lazy' to take the jounin exams. "This is such a drag getting up so early," he mumbled, hearing the thump of footsteps behind him as Chouji caught up to him.

His teammate held a bag of his trademark chips in his left fist, panting heavily. He squinted at Shikamaru, who just shoved a hand into his pocket and used his other hand to shade his eyes against the sun, staring at the sky. "Huh, no clouds today? This is gonna suck even more."

He turned and began walking again, Chouji immediately trotting a bit to catch up. "Hey, Shikamaru, did you bring anything to eat?"

"No."

"Aw, Shikamaru!" Chouji looked a bit mournful as he glanced at the empty chip bag crumpled in his hand. He'd somehow finished them in about three seconds flat.

"That's the girls' job this year," he sighed, glancing up at the sky again. The brilliant blue reminded him of Naruto's eyes, and so he looked back down, seeing but not registering the bustle and hustle of the villagers around him. Shops opened early today so last-minute villagers could buy new clothes and food for the festival. If he continued on this path, then he would eventually get to the place the festival would be held, complete with glowing red lanterns and food stalls and later, even a play about the defeat of the Kyuubi.

Goddamn villagers and their stupid concepts of 'heroes'. They couldn't even notice it when a perfectly good one walked right out and left under their noses. Shikamaru sighed again—sometimes he wondered why he was a genius, when thinking hurt his brain so much—and entered the Yamanaka flower shop. Chouji followed.

"Shikamaru!" Ino screamed as she saw them enter the shop. "Hurry!" In one hand she clutched a beautiful bouquet of fresh wildflowers; in the other was a giant picnic basket. Shikamaru shoved a hand onto Chouji's shoulder.

"It's not just for you, Chouji," he said. Chouji's face fell, but brightened as a thought occurred to him.

"But most of it is, right? Because, Hinata's bringing food for her team, Tenten for hers, and Sakura is in charge of dessert. And—" Shikamaru ignored him and called to Ino.

"You ready?" Ino nodded, quickly shoving her feet into her ninja sandals and pushing open the door. "Hey, what's the rush?"

She opened her mouth to respond, and another voice answered for her. "Ino! What did I tell you? You can't leave! We have to get ready for the festival!" Oh. That. Shikamaru forgot that every year, Ino's parents were the only parents to actually care if Ino attended the Konoha festival. Ino sighed and was about to push the basket into Chouji's hands when she thought better of it, and gave it to Shikamaru instead. He grunted under the weight. _What's in this thing?_

"Mom! I told you! We're going to the memorial stone. This is the only day we can do it, when there's no risk of interference from other ninjas."

"You—what? No!_ Ino_!" But Ino had already grabbed both of her teammates' arms and ran out, calling apologies to her furious mother. She continued to run down the street, despite Shikamaru's curses as he fumbled with the picnic basket. Her long blonde hair streamed behind her in a ponytail as she ran. Even today, she was wearing her ninja clothes: a shortened purple skirt and a cutoff purple tank top. She had bandages wrapped around her torso and chest, and black biker shorts. It was a variation of the outfit from two years ago.

Finally, when they ran a couple of blocks away, Ino stopped. Shikamaru glared at her, panting heavily. "Next time, could you give us a little warning before you start barreling down the street like a maniac?" He dropped the picnic basket with a _thump. _

"Hey guys!" a brash voice yelled from behind them. Shikamaru turned to see Kiba, grinning crazily on that giant dog of his. What did he do, mix steroids into Akamaru's food? There was no way a normal dog could grow big enough to have an actual rider the size of Kiba.

"Hello," Hinata greeted shyly. Her clasped hands held an average sized picnic basket, nothing like the two ton monstrosity Ino had packed. Ino waved, one hand still holding the flowers. "Oh! Is that for the memorial?"

"Yup," Ino said, smiling at the Hyuuga girl. "Did you see anyone else on your way here?"

Hinata shook her head. Shino spoke up beside her. "My bugs say that Sakura is already there," he reported in that eerie low voice. Seriously. Shino could belong in a haunted house, with his head hooded all the time by that jacket and those little round sunglasses.

The six of them started walking again, only to be stopped when a blur of green landed in front of them. "Come, Neji! What is taking you? At this rate, you'll never be better than me, my rival!" Hyuuga Neji leaped—emotionlessly, if that was possible—into view, landing with a rustle of cloth. His white eyes were utterly blank as he responded.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Lee, _I am not your rival_." Tenten giggled as she also jumped onto the street, leaping narrowly over several civilians' ducking heads. The weapons' mistress clutched a straw picnic basket. She waved jovially to the others, who nodded back. Shino had already started walking, ignoring the newcomers. Hinata quickly caught up, and Kiba bounded ahead on Akamaru.

Shikamaru and Chouji began walking, followed by a bored Neji and pestering Lee. Tenten fell into step with Ino. "I swear," Ino said in a way of greeting, "I've never seen Neji laugh. He's like a robot."

Tenten agreed. "But I can't possibly imagine Shino laughing either. If he laughed, I don't know what I'd do!"

"And if Uchiha Sasuke were to laugh…" The blonde trailed off when she realized the direction the conversation had taken. No one spoke of Sasuke anymore, outside of the Konoha 10, just like how nobody spoke of Naruto. But the difference was that people still remembered Sasuke.

"I miss him," Tenten said softly, dark eyes raised to the roofs of the buildings they passed. "Without Naruto in Konoha is like the sun leaving the world."

But the sun had risen the day Naruto left.

Time had gone on.

Time still went on, dragging…centimeter by centimeter. Inch by inch.

Time went on.

* * *

><p>Sakura turned when she sensed multiple familiar chakra signatures approaching, schooling her face into an amiable one.<p>

It wouldn't do to have her friends see her breaking down in front of the memorial.

Ino entered the clearing first, running to Sakura when her feet hit the ground. "Billboard-brow!" She hugged her tightly, murmuring in her ear, "I'll just say I'm sorry in advance."

Sakura smiled slightly, before hissing, "Call me that again, Ino-pig, and die." Ino snorted, breaking away, the moment broken.

"Bring it on, sister!"

"Oi, oi, no fighting when we're here," a lazy voice called. "You don't want to insult Naruto's memory, do you?" Both girls turned as one to glare at Shikamaru, who just dropped the basket and in turn, flopped onto the grass. "Good. Clouds are coming in."

Chouji fetched the basket and hauled it over to in front of the memorial like it was weightless. Hinata and Tenten also put their respective baskets in front of the memorial, joining Sakura's basket. The girls set about laying out the food and blankets, while the guys did…guy things. For example, Shikamaru was watching clouds, Chouji was staring hungrily at the food, Neji and Lee were arguing a mostly one sided argument, Kiba and Akamaru were sprawled out on the grass (napping?), and Shino was just….there.

Ino had set the flowers down in front of the memorial, after tracing Asuma's name. Shikamaru had put out a cigarette and a silver lighter. Sakura placed a swath of blue cloth: Kakashi's mask.

Still, they waited, even when all the food were set out. Waiting, waiting.

Finally, a shadow blocked out the sun, and the company looked up to see a giant black and white bird soaring gently down. Sai landed, his face still paper-white even in the sunlight. He had a genuine smile on his pale face. "Sorry I'm late."

Sakura huffed, but you could see that she trusted Sai in the way her green eyes glowed a bit when she looked at him. No one, though, could replicate the way her eyes had shone when Naruto was there. When Sasuke was there; when Team 7 was whole.

Few things could make Sakura laugh now. She had matured a lot over the past two years - but she'd also gained a sadness that seemed to weigh down her shoulders, the way Naruto's shoulders had been weighed down after he knew that Konoha would be in danger because of him.

To any outsiders, the picnic had an illusion of happiness. To the insiders, there was indeed cheerfulness, but everyone could sense the current of sadness running underneath. The reason of the picnic couldn't be ignored. It wasn't just a get-together for friends. It was an annual thing, something to _remember _a lost friend.

Even so, they managed to have fun. Chouji was naturally at the center of the picnic, the way a mastermind works his crimes from the background. He didn't hog all the food to himself—god no, Ino would kill him if he did that—but he was smarter. How? Every time someone turned their back for just a second, he would flash out his hand and grab the food the person had been guarding.

Ingenious.

Shikamaru ate a sandwich, lying down, while Ino chatted obliviously away by his side. A herbal smoothie (_is that any good_? Shikamaru wondered) was in her right hand, forming slippery condensation in the noon heat.

Neji bit into an apple, sitting next to his quiet cousin. Hinata was blinking at Kiba, who was making wide hand gestures as he told a story about his latest mission. Akamaru pitched in by barking occasionally. Shino observed it all, seemingly not eating anything. Or maybe he just ate it all really fast like Kakashi-sensei had.

Lee was attempting to engage Neji in a ridiculous contest involving watermelon seeds and a sandwich crust. Neji insistently declined. Tenten was peeling a pear with her kunai.

Sakura watched it all contentedly, a small smile on her face. Everyone was acting normal, like Naruto was here. In fact, she could imagine the hyperactive knucklehead ninja in the midst of it all, running in between Neji and Lee, 'bugging' Shino, making shadows on Shikamaru's face, pulling Ino's ponytail, tackling Kiba, thoughtlessly making Hinata faint, and doing about a million other things that Naruto was known for. That Naruto _exemplified._

She missed him.

Sai poked her shoulder, silently offering her a Styrofoam cup. She took it and smiled again at him.

"Guys!" she called, and instantly the relaxed ninjas looked up. Sakura held up the ramen. "It's time for the dessert!"

No one complained, other than Chouji—"Aw, no cake?"—and gathered around. Sai helped Sakura pass around the instant noodles. "So, guys, this year I decided to bring cup ramen for dessert. And I know, Chouji, that that's not an actual dessert. I just thought we could honor Naruto's presence. You know, through favorite foods and all that stuff."

"Where's the water?" Kiba wanted to know.

Sai pulled a tea kettle out from behind the memorial stone, where it'd been sitting for a while. Everyone opened the paper top of the cup. Sakura passed the kettle around, and the ninjas poured the steaming water in. They talked a little while they waited for the miso ramen to soften.

After three minutes passed, everyone took chopsticks and dug in, but only after saying "Itadakimasu!" in remembrance of Naruto.

October 10 was one of the few days Sakura's eyes glowed the way it had when Naruto was around. She murmured, "For you, Naruto," before grabbing her own chopsticks.

* * *

><p>Naruto clapped his hands together and shouted, "Itadakimasu!" exuberantly before snatching his chopsticks and practically inhaling the noodles.<p>

_**Don't kill yourself eating, brat. **_The now familiar deep timbre rumbled through Naruto's mind. It didn't faze Naruto in the slightest.

He had set free all the other memories of himself and his precious people, but that didn't mean his tastes changed. He couldn't let go of his one eternal true love: ramen! Naruto grinned and looked up at the sky through his little roof window.

He was in his current house. Every couple weeks, Naruto moved, since as a missing-nin, he couldn't very well stay in one place. It would be like a fox having one burrow on a wolf pack's territory.

Naruto liked tree houses. That was something he discovered after he was unable to escape one prey's water jutsu. Tree houses were useful. His tree house was basically a bunch of wooden planks stuck together, forming a passable structure. There was no door, and some natural windows from the wood. He had a bed-type thing, consisting of some very thick blankets and a puffy pillow; there was a creaky table and a kettle, along with a heater. The only form of sustenance he had in the house was ramen.

Ramen, ramen, and more ramen.

The downside was that none were quite as good as Ichiraku's.

Naruto finished his fourth cup, sighing happily. He was trying to cut down—ration himself—until he could go sneak into the town and buy some more. Or steal. Either one was fine.

_**Do you know what day it is? **_His resident demon asked, out of the blue.

_Huh? Oh. No, haven't really thought of stuff like that for a while now. _Naruto blinked, noticing that he actually _hadn't _thought of dates and years for a long time. _Uh, I think two years passed, right?_

_**You're an idiot. **_The Kyuubi sighed in his head, a gust of virtual air blowing in Naruto's ears. He shook his head. It was weird when the fox did that sighing thing. _**Today's October 10. **_

_October? That must explain why it's getting colder, _Naruto observed. _Ha! It's a good thing I got my cloak, right? _

_**IDIOT! October 10 is Konoha's festival day. The day Konoha celebrates their defeat of me! **_Bitterness ripped through Naruto, courtesy of the Kyuubi. Even though he was slightly more docile now (Naruto was convinced there was some ulterior motive behind his fake docile-ness) the fox still had many negative emotions.

_October 10! My...birthday? _Naruto stood, not noticing when his chair fell over with a thump. _Then—I need to go!_

_**A thank you would be appreciated, **_the Nine-tails said snidely in his head. Naruto absently sent a thank you while pulling on his thick black cloak. The reason he hadn't gotten an orange one was because, one, they hadn't had any, and two, it simply would've made him stand out too much. (Kyuubi's opinion, not Naruto's. He'd argued that his blond hair already made him stand out. What difference was a bright orange cloak going to make?)

In the end, he'd gotten a black one. But underneath it, he still had on his trademark orange jacket and pants. No way he was giving those up without a fight.

Naruto leaped out of his tree house, almost forgetting to cast a small genjutsu over the wooden structure—the equivalent of locking his door. Small genjutsus were the only type of genjutsus he knew. Naruto sucked at genjutsus, and frankly (don't tell him this) the Kyuubi did too. How else could he have been stuck under Madara's Mangekyou Sharingan for so long?

Yes, the Nine-tails had explained everything about the past to Naruto. Including the fact that the Fourth Hokage was his father. (Although Naruto wasn't sure whether to believe him on the other facts, considering this _was _the Nine-tails demon fox, after all.)

Naruto grinned, thinking about how awesome his dad must have been. Then he felt that pang in his chest he always felt when he thought about the Fourth. _I've let him down, _was the thought that ran through his head every time. _But there was no other way, _was the answering conclusion.

In a matter of minutes, Naruto reached his destination.

Konoha.

He ran up the steep gray rebuilt wall, halting at the top to survey the reconstructed village. It looked almost exactly the same. They'd somehow even managed to fill in the giant crater the year after Naruto left.

This was becoming kind of a tradition for Naruto, you see.

The first year, he'd been so homesick, the Kyuubi had been unable to stop Naruto from running all the way back. Only reminders of protecting the village had kept Naruto from revealing himself to anyone.

That year, Naruto had discovered all his friends meeting at the memorial, for him.

For _Naruto._

Naruto didn't know if it felt better for them to remember, or for them to forget him entirely.

He ran along the wall, a flitting black shadow. When he got close enough, he jumped all the way down, balancing chakra in his legs so he wouldn't die when he landed. Immediately after landing, he masked his chakra so his fri—well, not friends, but ex-teammates wouldn't recognize him.

Naruto snuck along the wall, feeling very much the stealthy ninja. Some age-old habits he couldn't erase.

He poked his head around the corner, having drawn his hood over his golden hair. Immediately, a smile softened his features. Over the two years, Naruto had lost even more of his baby fat, and had gained a couple inches. _Hey, maybe I'll be taller than the bastard now, _he thought. _That would be awesome!_

All his f—ex-teammates were gathered around in a circle, laughing. He saw Hinata's indigo hair gleaming in the sunlight next to Neji's dark brown. Lee still had his hair in the bowl cut—bushy brows, Naruto remembered fondly. Kiba was laughing kinda crazily, Akamaru plopped at his feet. Creepy Shino was there too, and even Sai! Ino sat next to Shikamaru, who was lying on the grass staring at the sky. Naruto raised his eyes to look at the sky too. What was he doing, cloud-watching? Chouji was—expectedly—eating.

Finally, he let his gaze roam to Sakura. The pink-haired kunoichi was giggling at something Ino had said. Sakura hadn't changed much. She was still just as beautiful as before. Naruto let out his breath, blocking the pain in his chest.

Really, why did he come back every year if he was just going to feel this way when he saw them?

And that was when Naruto got careless.

He kept his head out for a moment too long, and at that exact instant Sakura lifted her head.

He heard a gasp and raised his head as well, meeting Sakura's surprised stare for just one long second before bolting and running away toward the wall. _**Careless brat! **_the Kyuubi scolded in his head. _**You better be faster than them, or we're screwed.**_

With his extended hearing, Naruto could hear Sakura crying, "I know someone was there! In a black cloak. No, haven't seen him before. But…" she hesitated, before whispering almost too low for Naruto to hear. "…I swear he had Naruto's eyes."

And then the chase was on.

The Konoha 10 sprang from their picnic site with varying speeds, intent on capturing the missing-nin. None allowed themselves to hope in case it actually was…

…was their long-lost friend.

Naruto cursed Konoha under his breath as he was forced to leap onto the roofs. Damn them for rebuilding it in such a way that he got lost effortlessly. He could hear the sounds of the festival drawing nearer, and from behind him, the swish of fabric as the ninjas chased him. _What to do? What to do?_

_**Shadow clones. Distract them with your shadow clones, but put henges on them. So if they do get close enough, they won't know. And brat! Make sure you don't make a thousand of them. They'll know for sure who you are if you make even a hundred.**_

Naruto nodded and performed several hand signs, muttering, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Since there were eleven people chasing him, he made eleven clones. Deliberately, he sent them back toward the Konoha ninjas. All the clones had varying characteristics.

The real Naruto continued on toward the gray wall that was steadily coming closer. He felt one of his clones poof out of existence when he reached the gray wall and heard someone—Kiba?—shout, "This was a clone! Shadow clone!" Naruto cursed again in his head. _Should've used water clones. _"They all could be shadow clones!"

"Then where's the real one, dog-breath?" That was Sai. It could only be. He grinned slightly as he ran vertically up the wall. Sai was still a thoughtless speaker.

Kiba growled but let it go. "I don't know—"

"There!" Neji. Stupid Byakugan. "Running up the wall." Instantly, all of the ninjas started toward the wall. Sakura barked out an order.

"Hinata! Chouji! Go warn the Hokage that there's a strange ninja in the village!" Hinata and Chouji's chakras disappeared from the mob chasing Naruto. He couldn't suppress a burst of adrenaline flooding his systems. God, chases were _so _much fun. Even if he was the prey.

Naruto paused at the top of the wall, viewing the sight of the village he'd sworn to protect - even at the cost of his own happiness. "Protect the king," he murmured, before looking down to see the Konoha ninjas reach the wall. He could make out Sakura's telltale pink hair and Ino's blonde. She _had _been the only blonde other than him. Huh…oh, he was becoming unfocused again.

Lee called out, "Please, sir! You must come down. We need to bring you to the Hokage!"

Naruto answered, confident they wouldn't register his new voice. "I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to do that. You see, I made a promise a long time ago." Already, Neji and Kiba were running up the wall. Better make this fast. "It's a promise I must keep, no matter what. But thank you!" He saluted them, perfectly serious.

Then Naruto dropped off the wall.

* * *

><p>Neji put on a burst of speed and glanced over the edge, already knowing what he'd see.<p>

Nothing.

"He left," he told Kiba. Kiba nodded grimly.

"Do you really think it could've been…?"

Neji shrugged. "But really…why _would_ Naruto come back? There's nothing left for him here, if he wanted to leave so badly in the first place."

* * *

><p>Naruto panted, a bit tired out from the burst of the demon's chakra he'd been forced to release in order to shoot away like that. He leaned his head back against the rough bark of the tree. <em><strong>You shouldn't go back anymore, brat, <strong>_the Kyuubi warned.

_Shut up, _Naruto grumbled.

He closed his eyes, but he still couldn't get rid of the image stuck on the back of his eyelids:

Sakura's unreasonably wistful, hopeful eyes.

_I'm never going back._


	4. Chapter 3: Insanity and Losing Hope

**Edit, 7/4/12: **Okay, so I might as well just edit a chapter a month at the rate I'm going. Whatever. Ignore the A/N below as well, please... You know, I really should just delete the author's notes, because this is basically making you read two of them. If you're reading this. But the A/Ns are like, reminders of me when I was stupider, so I'd like to keep them for sentimentality. Besides, they get better as the story progresses. They aren't so long anymore :)

Once again, anything in the a/n about previous chapters is unnecessary, as I've edited chapter 3 already. And...this chapter is kinda awkward; I couldn't write or edit it very well, so sorry for the...awkwardness of terribly written chapters... -_- Also, I don't know if I've addressed this before, but ... yeah. This deviates from canon a lot. Seriously. Deidara was killed after Killer Bee was sealed, but he was still killed by Sasuke. Itachi and Sasuke's battle hasn't even happened yet. And so forth... (Don't ask how this plays into my story. It just does. xD *failed*)

Also...screw this I'm taking out the old A/Ns, or at least the ones that were horrible. There will be a new edit confirming this on the Prologue as well. Another change I've made is that the genres for this are now 'Suspense' and 'Adventure', as 'Angst' really wasn't appropriate.

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><p><strong>Dark Angel: Insanity and Losing Hope<strong>

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><p><em>Though memories last forever, they come to a certain point where the meaning of the memory dies. <em>–Anonymous Author

_Hope never abandons you; you abandon it. _–George Weinberg

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><p>It's a dark feeling, the feeling of sinking down and down and down.<p>

The telltale feeling of slowly losing your grasp on sanity.

Naruto sat with his head in his hands, eyes focused on the floor. Yes, Uzumaki Naruto was slowly becoming insane, because of the simple fact that there was absolutely nothing…

...to _do!_

And not in the way that you might think: no, he was not bored; no, it was not the way little kids pestered their older siblings to play with them when they had nothing to do. It was in the way that fate had lowered its steel axe onto Naruto's shoulders and had forced him to realize something very important.

Naruto had killed almost all the most dangerous rogue shinobi he could think of!

Even when he reviewed it over and over in his head, that was the conclusion he came to. His faded copy of the bingo book had crossed out almost all the names in it, except for a select few, such as Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi. The sole surviving Uchihas, he mused. He had graciously refrained from killing the two brothers just so they could destroy each other - it was only fitting, after all.

Naruto smoothed down a crossed-out page in his bingo book, contemplating his bitter fate. Something—maybe his subconsciousness—prompted him to look down. He turned the page, and saw with some surprise his own face staring back at him.

Oh. So he'd forgotten to tear his _own _page out of the bingo book.

Uh, oops.

Naruto smiled at his mistake—it was a relatively new book, because his old one had been abandoned at an old home after it was burned down by some katon-loving missing-nin—and moved to tear it out.

Something stopped him.

He leaned his head closer to examine the page in more detail.

Huh. They had a lot of info on him; maybe it was time to pay a visit to the people who made the bingo books…wait. Who _did_ make them? _**Focus,** _Kyuubi reminded him. Naruto made a face.

To anyone who watched Naruto while he did his little 'inside-chat' things, it was very strange. A second of silence, then Naruto's reaction. Sometimes he forgot that he was talking to something in_side _his head and not outside. Once in a town, he'd gotten into an argument with the Nine-tails, getting worked up enough to shout "I WANT ORANGE FOR GOD'S SAKE!" in the middle of the shop.

Needlessly to say, he quickly left after that.

Naruto sighed and pressed his lips together before redirecting his eyes down to his bingo page, shaking his head at his former stupidity.

_Missions: 30 completed._

Naruto frowned slightly. Only that little? As a missing-nin, that sucked. He checked Sasuke's page. Ha! Well, he shouldn't be talking! The bastard only had 16! Beat that!

_11 D-rank, 9 C-rank, 4 B-rank, 6 A-rank, 0 S-rank._

Well, maybe not. How come someone's rank determined more then their skill? _**Village idiots,** _Kyuubi snorted. Naruto ignored him.

_Murdered: None._

Ha!

The next lines sobered him, though.

_Dead, body or head: 20,000 ryo._

_Alive, injured or uninjured: 5,000,000,000 ryo._

Naruto stared at the book before shaking his head in mute disbelief. Uh-uh. No way. Last time he looked, he was only… Wait. He had never looked before. Why was his amount so high?

Why was the price for _'alive' _so high?

The final line in the page answered his question.

_Village: Konohagakure no Sato. Clan: Uzumaki. Age: 18. Reason for danger: Kyuubi no Youko's Jinchuuriki._

_Reason for alive capture: Can be used as a weapon._

The last sentence (_only six words but oh-so-devastating_) were pushed into the tiny space like the author had added it at the last minute. A last thought - almost forgotten, but not quite.

Naruto's head fell with a thump back onto his bingo book. Ah, his life sucked.

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><p>A couple hours later, Naruto was still lying there, having dozed off. Only the sudden loud rumbling of his stomach brought him back to reality. "Huh?" Naruto looked around. His voice sounded unreasonably loud in the silence. That was one terrible thing about living alone; it was always so <em>quiet. <em>For someone who'd grown up surrounded by noise and in turn making his own great share of noise, the silence was unnerving.

Which was why Kyuubi sometimes was a good thing. When, during those first few months Naruto had left, the 'peace' and 'calm' had grown unbearable... Kyuubi had talked to him and gotten him through those dark times. Naruto wouldn't say he and the Nine-tails were friends by any means, since he still thought the demon had some evil plan hidden from him, but they were on more neutral terms now.

Meaning, they weren't against each other all the time, and sometimes during fights Naruto would let the Kyuubi come out if he was being helpful.

He knew that was a bad thing to do, but if he didn't, well, the fox would just take over anyway when Naruto was weak. And possibly go on a rampage against Konoha.

Hey, it was possible.

Naruto, grumbling under his breath, got up and started to heat up some water. He really wished he knew some fire jutsus so the water would be ready in an instant. His jutsu library consisted of a handful of water jutsus, two earth jutsus (the earth wall and dragon), no lightning, no fire, and a ton of wind.

He ate relatively quickly, pouring water into ramen cups while he devoured his current cup so he could eat the new ones as soon as he finished the old.

_**Couldn't you eat a rabbit or something? **_the demon fox complained from inside him. Naruto felt the fox huff angrily.

_Stop doing that. It's weird. _The Kyuubi smirked and laughed loudly, causing Naruto's ears to ring. _I said s__top it! Or else I'll keep you in your cage for two more months._

_**You wouldn't, **_the Kyuubi sneered. _**You **_**need**_** me.**_

It was at times like this that he really detested the Nine-tails and all its hidden, boiling poison. Most of the time, the demon at least kept up a _pretense_ of friendliness, but when he let it drop - it revealed instantly the dark hatred and malice stirring beneath the friendly cover. Naruto still didn't understand why the fox even helped him in the first place if he despised his host so much.

Coming to a conclusion, Naruto decided that he wouldn't let the Kyuubi out for at least three weeks since he was being a bastard.

He finished eating, only to realize belatedly that that probably hadn't been the best idea, because now he was faced with his boredom again - and the grip of realization closed around him.

Yes, Naruto really believed he was slowly becoming insane, even if he masked it with his past personality most days. His past personality was the easiest to use... because it was the way he'd _been _for so long. He'd been loud and idiotic so often in his life that it required merely a tiny amount of energy to slip into the façade once more.

While now...Now, if any of his former friends saw him without his past personality as a mask, he would undoubtedly be unrecognizable. Naruto had changed, and with that change, came new goals, new ideas, new thought processes. New epiphanies - like the one he just had.

_Why not the Akatsuki?_

He knew it would be dangerous to seek them out like that, so openly. Still, wasn't that better than nothing? He mentally calculated how many were left alive, only to be bitterly disappointed.

Well.

Hoshigaki Kisame had been killed a year ago—this was mostly a rumor, but the Kyuubi assured him it was true (_so how true does that make it?_)—by the Eight-Tails; someone named 'Killer Bee'. Apparently, this Killer Bee guy had forced all of the remaining Akatsuki (which, back then, still had Deidara) into battle. And he'd killed Kisame, but in the end, even the Eight-Tails had fallen.

Naruto remembered killing Hidan and Kakuzu a while back along with some of his ex-teammates. He was getting better at referring to them as _ex-teammates _and not friends. At the beginning of this long trip into loneliness, Naruto had constantly wondered what his 'friends' were doing, even though the Kyuubi reminded him over and over: _**Ex-teammates!**_ Once again, the sight of Sakura's eyes flooded his memory, and Naruto felt his lower lip jut out a bit. Sakura. Poor Sakura...

Would she believe him if he said he had never meant to hurt her? Never meant to hurt any of his - ex-teammates?

Probably. But then again, they didn't know who he was anymore; they didn't know how he had changed, as was proven right now as the new Naruto coldly calculated the deaths and chances of engaging the Akatsuki in battle without a care for his own life.

Orochimaru had been a part of the Akatsuki, but he was long dead, courtesy of Sasuke.

Sasori was killed by Lady Chiyo and Sakura.

Deidara had died facing Sasuke. Again, a rumor, but Naruto had confirmed it when he'd been caught in the after-blast of Deidara's suicide bombing. He'd been in the area looking for some missing-nin named Hozuki Suigetsu, who was also reportedly in possession of Zabuza's giant sword. And was also reportedly with Sasuke.

(Naruto's hands clenched. He would be lying if he said he hadn't been looking for Sasuke as well...but the time for trailing after his friend-brother-rival-enemy was long gone. There was no use in trying to catch up to Sasuke when he had already surpassed him in his own accomplishments. There was no point in watching Sasuke's back any longer...)

A pity about Deidara's death, anyhow. He'd wanted to fight Deidara for abusing Gaara like he had when Gaara died, if only out of a sense of dull honor rather than real friendship toward Suna's Kazekage.

So, who did this leave alive?

Madara, Itachi, Pein, Konan, and that creepy Venus-flytrap guy—

_**Zetsu.**_

And that creepy Venus-flytrap guy, Zetsu. Thank you for your input, Nine-tails.

Naruto began to grow more excited at this new hunting prospect. Before he knew it, he was pacing along the perimeter of his room. This would be so much _fun!_ He could hone his skills against the Akatsuki, maybe leave a couple alive so he could play with them again… Huh. When did he start thinking like the Kyuubi?

It slightly disturbed him. But only slightly. And that disturbed him all the more.

Although, of course—his mind was distracted by the thought of the new prey again—it would have to wait till the Oto-nin passed by. He wanted to fight an Oto-nin and see if they were really any good, before going on to the Akatsuki. Bigger fish.

Let's see, who could he fight in the Akatsuki?

Not Itachi. Naruto was kind enough to leave that to Sasuke. He smirked. Although, within reason…Shouldn't Sasuke have killed Itachi by now if he was 'so strong'? Heh. He bet he was stronger than the bastard now. He couldn't wait for their battle of strengths to be put to test…_soon. Soon. _

Zetsu would put up a good fight, maybe, and his clones could fight Zetsu's clones. That would entertain him a bit. And Konan would be the next easiest to defeat, with all her origami stuff. Pein after that, and his Rinnegan. Finally, Madara. The oldest Uchiha ever.

_**I'm not so sure Madara would be the hardest to beat, **_the Kyuubi muttered. Naruto had a questioning look on his face. _**You look stupid, brat. **_Naruto scowled, annoyed at his 'nickname' and the fact that he always forgot that he was talking to something _inside _him. Stupid outside reactions.

_**Don't you remember that time Madara came looking? **_

Naruto grinned, the memories floating to the surface of his mind. _Sorry, Sasuke, but Madara's fight takes the cake. Our fights had nothing on the one between Madara and me._ The only bad thing was that he couldn't remember the fight very clearly, because despite severely injuring Madara, he had been near death afterwards. Only Kyuubi had brought him back, and that had made the fox tired out for a couple months afterwards.

At least Naruto had ripped off one of Madara's arms and scratched his Sharingan.

Yes, Naruto had actually somehow _scratched _his _eyeball _- at least, according to Kyuubi. It still gave him shudders to think about it afterwards. He'd been trying to gouge it out or something, but Madara had knocked his arm away before he could succeed. He made a face thinking about it. Hopefully Madara was suffering now. Naruto still had the scars from the fight.

If Naruto was brutally honest with himself (which he usually wasn't) he had no idea how he had won the fight against Madara. By all odds, he should be dead. This was the man who'd taken down so many of the jinchuuriki; the man who had basically killed his parents. How was he alive? Any way he approached the hazy mess of memories, the only conclusion he could come up with was this: he must've called on a lot of Kyuubi's power, so much that he'd almost lost consciousness entirely. That must be why he'd been able to defeat Madara; why he couldn't remember anything.

(_The question is, can you defeat him again?_)

Naruto groaned, rubbing his temple. At least his thinking had taken a couple of hours. "Bedtime now," he mumbled to himself, smiling bitterly when he vaguely recalled times where his life had been happier, more carefree. Times when, even if he didn't have a family to tuck him to bed, he had memories of Team 7's daily activities to comfort him - Team 7, which had been like his own surrogate family.

For the first time in a long while, Naruto fell asleep dreaming of scolding Sakuras, brooding Uchihas, and for some really weird reason, Kakashi and Jiraiya dancing on a table, singing praises about the Icha Icha Paradise series.

Naruto had an endless imagination. But everyone knows that all good things must come to an end, whether via death or other means.

He dreamed happy dreams before delving into the darker realm of his nightmares. Memories usually haunted him here, but nowadays, when he watched the nightmares unfold before him, it felt more like he was looking in on someone _else's_ memories, even though the main character was obviously Naruto himself.

For, you see, the meaning of the memories had long since died.

* * *

><p>"Gaara!" A blonde woman burst into his office. Sabaku no Gaara turned to look at his older sister, Temari, from beside the round window. She held up the scroll in her hand. "They've finished decoding the scroll from the Hokage." Gaara nodded, which translated into 'give it'. She tossed it over before settling into his Kazekage chair, utterly relaxed now that she was done with her mission and Gaara hadn't killed her yet for taking so long. It was a thing to be appreciated. Although, he would've been<em> much <em>more prone to killing people before Uzumaki Naruto. Temari frowned. She still couldn't believe that boy had had the guts to become a missing-nin!

Just. Like. _That._

The nerve of that kid! She growled and Gaara turned to look at her. "Thinking about Uzumaki, aren't you."

It wasn't a question. Temari laughed a bit.

"Yeah. You know me, Gaara. Can't get over the fact that he just up and left. Oh and the minor problem that he keeps sending _dead bodies._" Her voice dripped sarcasm. Gaara gave her an onceover before turning back to the scroll. Sometimes Temari wondered how in the world Gaara could stand not talking for such a long time. He _had _been considerably quieter since the news of Naruto's departure came two years ago...and had been hurt for the first time in a very long time. Any way she went, the only conclusion she could come to was 'stupid Naruto'.

It wasn't like she _hated _Naruto or anything. Just... sometimes, he could be a little rash. Just a little. But then there was—

"Yo, Temari. Quit arguing with your inner self about Naruto." She whipped her head around, glaring fiercely at the newcomer.

It was Kankuro. Temari scowled at him. "Who said I'm fighting with my 'inner self'?" She made air quotes around the last two words, obviously scornful. Kankuro just laughed.

"Who says you're not?" She growled again and averted her gaze, refusing to answer the question. Kankuro walked past her and put his hand on Gaara's shoulder. "So, what's it say?"

"The summary is that a rogue ninja has been sighted in Konohagakure," Gaara replied in his usual monotone voice. "The Hokage included a side note saying Sakura insists that it may have been Uzumaki Naruto." Kankuro, who'd been in the midst of trying to pull the scroll from Gaara's pale hands, froze. Temari, who'd been in the midst of opening her mouth to ridicule Konoha for sending a messenger bird for a _rogue ninja_—have they fallen that far, manpower-wise?—froze_. _

Kankuro was the first to break the silence.

"...Naruto?" he asked cautiously, face flickering between several emotions before deciding on wary. The puppet master leaned back a bit to look at Gaara's face. Of course, he shouldn't have bothered.

Emotionless.

"That's what it says." The Kazekage's voice held a note of impatience. Just a note, but it was enough to make Temari close her mouth and lean back in her—well, _his_—chair silently. "Sakura doesn't lie."

His brother raised an eyebrow before shrugging. "Whatever you say. Well? What are you going to do about this?"

Gaara was silent for a long time. Temari spun a bit on his chair, an irritated look on her face. Well masked, but her irritation peeked through all the same. It was clear she wanted her brother to ignore Konoha's message; Haruno Sakura might not _lie_, but her eyes could've easily been fooled. Gaara was aware of this, and ignored it. Kankuro still had his eyebrow raised, though it was starting to twitch from the strain of being held there for a _long _time.

Finally, Gaara gave a nearly inaudible sigh. "I'll request a meeting with the Godaime Hokage. We'll work this out."

Temari frowned slightly, defense mechanisms kicking in. "All this just for a possible sighting of Naruto? Seems like overkill, doesn't it?"

Kankuro whole-heartedly approved of Temari's words. However, he decided to remain quiet upon seeing Gaara's face. The usual empty expression was full of an anger that hadn't been seen in almost half a decade. "Kankuro. Temari. I understand, since you don't know Naruto. But I have to say this: Naruto was and is my friend. My first friend. He _understood _me like no one else, least of all my own siblings." Temari had the nerve to look ashamed at this, but she still refused to back down.

"But Gaara. How will the village react? They'll get the impression that you leave at the Hokage's beck and call. No, more like at a missing-nin's beck and call." She deliberately referred to Naruto as a missing-nin, knowing it'd cause more ugly guilt and sharp pain.

Gaara simply looked out his window, refusing to rise to her bait. "And that is precisely why I am going. Naruto was my first friend, so this is partly for him. But the more important reason is this: Naruto is becoming a danger. He is the Kyuubi vessel, like I was Shukaku's. Suna was fine, safe, until Naruto began dumping his bodies here. Now, we are at a grave point when the Akatsuki will attack soon, and most likely wait in ambush for Naruto... _in Suna. _And the resulting fight between them and the _missing-nin _will no doubt reach us."

He faced the window when he spoke his last words, a ring of finality echoing in them. The words of the Kazekage. "Naruto was my first friend, but I am not doing this for him. I am doing this for the village I have sworn to protect." He took a deep breath and released the words that would condemn Naruto's fate:

_"It's time we hunted Naruto down."_

They were the words of the Kazekage, but behind the ring of finality, if you listened hard…

You could hear the hope that had finally abandoned Gaara.


	5. Chapter 4: Angel Wings

**Edit 7/11/12:** Well, I went through a major debating crisis with myself. I didn't know if I should change the format of my chapters into ... well, what it is now (with the whole 'Dark Angel: Chapter title' thing being centered and everything), versus the chapters I haven't edited but... I did it. For now. I'm kinda pleased with the way the chapters look now, and how the quotes are separated from the title of the chapter.

Also, I changed the titles of the chapters so now it reads as 'Chapter [number]: [title]' in the chapter navigation bar up there vs the plain old chapter title, sans number. Yeah. I beat myself up over those two choices, but I doubt anyone is going to care. xD Sorry if you didn't understand anything I was talking about up there...

Also - yup. This is the chapter where long quotes come into play. (Quotes are free to interpretation, by the way. I, for one, have lots of different interpretations behind the quotes I pick... Mostly about how the people Naruto's left behind are affected by his absence, or vice versa.)

**Warning: **There's some ShikaTem in here. Only mentioned, though, and I don't know if I ever talk about it again after this chapter.

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><p><strong>Dark Angel: Angel Wings<strong>

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><p>... <em>Although it would be better if I'd come to hate you  On a day like today / I'd remember you again for sure. / Not knowing these kinds of feelings would have been great / Although we will now never meet again / I want to, I want to see you / I still think of the summer day when you were with me. ... I'll forget all about you now / This is just too sad / Why must we have met? / If I close my eyes / It'll be like you're there even now. _–Translated lyrics from Utakata Hanabi, by Supercell

..._The "urge" of wanting to see you, the "innocence" that made me want to cry / The fireflies that flew into the fire of the summer will not return. ... In my violent heart, the nearly lost memories / That have been blown out are gently lit again. ... SHA LA LA I'm sure, someday, I'll obtain it / Softly in my fleeting heart, a light is burning / SHA LA LA Person dear to me, you, too, can see it / The dazzling moon softly illuminates tomorrow / Shining strongly, strongly. _–Translated lyrics from Hotaru no Hikari, by Ikimono Gakari

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><p><span>~three days later~<span>

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><p>The moonlight glimmered softly through the leaves of the tree he was perched in.<p>

It made pale dancing shapes on the ground, a sharp contrast to the black shadows of the leaves. Of course, it wasn't half as bright as the daylight, but there was something…soothing…about the night.

Naruto observed all of this in the blink of an eye while continuing his constant surveillance.

Who, you might ask, was he waiting for?

Simple. Tonight, the Oto-nin was due to be passing through. And what better time than night for an ambush?

He heard a 'yeah-right' kind of sound in his head. (Earlier, the Kyuubi had tried to argue with Naruto's logic, saying how the ninja was traveling _at _night, so of course he was prepared for attacks… but Naruto, being who he was, hadn't listened.)

Naruto narrowed his eyes a bit as he stared at the path below him. The Nine-tails had also given him a hard time about staking out the actual road (_"What kind of respectable ninja takes the goddamn _road_?"_), but something instinctive had told Naruto that this particular Oto-nin wouldn't bother taking the stealthier tree route - if only because his overinflated ego made him think that he was the King of Sharingan, and therefore, untouchable. (1)

Another half an hour slowly trickled by, and still there was no sign of the Oto-nin.

_**Not coming, is he? Guess that ****boy **_**is _no good after all_, **the fox snickered. Naruto clenched his teeth; that was the only sign of his body moving in response to the fox's words.

_You! Demon who lives in my body! Whose side are you on anyway? _The thought was sent in an annoyed tone to the Kyuubi while Naruto maintained his watch. He would've used shadow clones to help him span a wider surveillance range, except with this particular prey, it wouldn't work quite so well…

(_because he already knew everything about Naruto_)

Minor details, despite the fact that this would make the fight a major disadvantage for Naruto.

Then things could get messy. And wouldn't the forest get blown up while they fought? _**Smart, thinking of things like that now, **_the Kyuubi mocked. Naruto flipped him off inside his head; the only result was some slightly delirious sounding laughter.

He was so busy thinking up all the insults he could call the fox that he almost forgot to watch the road. Therefore, he almost missed the miniscule motion the lone plant—which sat conveniently in the middle of the road—made, stirring just a little toward Konoha.

Someone had passed—and so quickly that Naruto hadn't even _sensed_ them, which was quite a feat these days.

He leaped soundlessly from the tree, fearlessly grabbing a low-hanging branch and launching himself another ten feet. Just as he swung off another branch, he noticed a shape standing smack in the middle of the road. Motionless. _Oops. _

But as everyone knows, you can't stop things in motion... unless there's another convenient obstacle in the way, of course.

That obstacle happened to be the person silhouetted against the moon.

Naruto skidded a bit on the ground before slamming to a ruffled stop. "Ow," he mouthed; apparently, he could still fumble up in front of his 'rival', even after all these years and practice as a missing-nin. Quickly recovering, though, Naruto propelled himself away from the Oto-nin, landing catlike several feet away, poised on the balls of his feet.

"What do you want?" The shadow's voice was as dark and cold as the night itself. Night personified. No, it was more like _evil _personified. Or at least that's what the voice promised. Naruto glared at the ninja's back, wondering somewhere in the back of his mind if he should be insulted that the Oto-nin was barely even acknowledging him.

Then again, Naruto didn't crave acknowledgment anymore.

"Well, well," he purred in his growling voice, "Look who we have here. A little birdie wants to play…"

"Don't make your life even shorter." The words were clipped. Icy. The moon suddenly burst free of the clouds it'd been temporarily hiding behind, and an almost beacon-like spotlight shone down on the figure. It was no longer illuminated, and as the ninja turned, he said, "You want to die awfully fast these days, don't you?"

Eyes seemed to glow out at Naruto.

He smiled, leaning back slightly on his heels. "Not as much as you. Oto-nin."

The nin didn't rise to the bait like he would've done in the past. No _'hn,' _or even a simple _'ex-Oto-nin'._ The figure simply stood and crossed his arms, not even in a hint of an attack or defending pose.

Naruto couldn't suppress a light shiver that ran down his spine as he stared into bleeding red eyes. _He's changed…at least as much as I have. _

_Do I even know this person anymore?_

_Does he even know me?_

…

_Well, isn't this better this way, then? A fight between strangers. Nobody will care who dies. _And that brought a grin to Naruto's lips, his teeth shining white in the dark.

"Naruto. I have things to do. You're just a bug in the way." The ninja pulled out a long flat sword from the holster stuck in his belt. "I'll finish what I started five years ago."

Fine then. If you wanna play that way… "Let's see you try," Naruto said confidently back, "_Sasuke!_"

* * *

><p>A couple of masked ANBUs escorted the Suna siblings silently through the streets of Konoha. Gaara had visited often enough before—meaning, two years ago (<em>before their lives had been flipped irreversibly upside down, before Naruto left<em>)—that the people of Konoha had gotten used to seeing the red-haired Kazekage walking through the streets.

Most had accepted him, in a way they never would Naruto - at least, not anymore - if only because Gaara's demon was extracted and the Kyuubi was not.

Temari glanced at Kankuro, who had several small children tailing him, begging for him to show them his legendary puppets. She smirked. "Got some fans there, huh?"

Kankuro scowled at Temari, running a hand over his face tiredly. The purple streaks didn't smudge. "Shut up. Why can't they go bother someone else?" Temari was about to answer when she felt a tug on her own clothes. She looked behind her and noticed another young child smiling shyly up.

"Temari-sama! Did you bring anything to play this time?" The kid had a tooth missing and her hair was done in adorable pigtails.

Temari smiled, eyes softening. "How about this? I'll play with you guys after the meeting, okay? We have important stuff to do for our village right now. You'll understand when you grow older. Fine?"

"Okay!" The girl beamed before quickly dashing back to her mother across the street, who'd been watching with gentle eyes. "Mama! Did you hear? She said she'd play with me later!"

The blonde woman turned and began walking again, lengthening her pace a bit to catch up to Gaara. Kankuro snorted beside her, having gotten rid of his tails somehow while she was in conversation with the little girl. "You're so popular, Temari."

"Look who's talking," she teased back. Another little boy had run up and poked him boldly in the leg. He growled, and the boy ran away with wide eyes. "Aw, you scared him! You should apologize, Mr. _Popularity._"

"Oh yeah? Well you fawn way too much over that lazy guy. Shikamaru, was it? If you like him that much, why isn't he your boyfriend by now? Huh? He must not like _you_ very much."

Temari's eyes narrowed dangerously and she put a hand on the large fan strapped to her back. But before she could harm Kankuro, Gaara called back, "We're here. Stop fighting."

Instantly, the two faced forward again, Temari risking it enough to whisper softly, "I'll get you back for that. Just wait."

"I'm _so_ scared—"

"Kankuro!"

"Sorry, Gaara," he mumbled in an abashed tone.

"Kazekage-sama. Temari-san, Kankuro-san. We have arrived." The ANBU in the lead bowed slightly before stepping back respectfully with his fellow teammates, allowing the Suna-nins to enter the room. Gaara inclined his head a bit, which translated into: "_Thanks. Now leave—and no eavesdropping—or else you die._" The ANBUs seemed to understand and quickly departed.

They entered the room, guard up. It wasn't the Hokage's office this time; it was the official meeting room... because this wasn't just a casual visit—this was an actual meeting of business.

The business of hunting down and killing ex-Konohagakure shinobi, missing-nin Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

><p>The tree bark peeled slightly and sizzled when Sasuke's Chidori narrowly missed its target.<p>

_Yikes, _Naruto thought as he flipped backwards to avoid a deadly slice of metal sword laced with crackling lightning. _Guess he no longer has his limits of two Chidori per fight… _He blocked a punch and kicked his leg out, but Sasuke just grabbed it and flipped him. Naruto went with the flip and ended up crouched back where he'd started. Sasuke stared at him wordlessly, not even moving or breathing hard—that bastard—simply waiting for the next move.

Like he had all the time in the world to destroy Naruto.

Naruto growled at that, lifting his lips back from teeth he could feel lengthening slightly as his emotions and temper rose. The Kyuubi trembled inside him, enraged at both Sasuke and his host.

_**Brat! Don't just stand there! Every time you attack, he just blocks and immediately fires off another attack, ensuring you don't have time to hurt him at all. Soon, you're going to drop your guard. And then—**_ Naruto cut him off abruptly, shoving up a wall between him and the Nine-Tails. The fox roared in his head, making him wince slightly, though his eyes remained trained on Sasuke.

Naruto could feel a trickle of blood slide down his neck from the cut on his cheek he'd received after failing to move quick enough. He'd been surprised at the initial speed of the Uchiha when he'd first broken rank and charged at Naruto after he'd yelled _"Sasuke!"_ Other than that time, however, he hadn't gone on offensive unless Naruto attacked first.

There had to be some strategy Sasuke was playing with this.

Naruto scanned the man (_no longer a child_) standing before him, looking for some weakness he could use. The curse seal was obscured by the light grey jacket the raven wore. Naruto knew from his past experiences Sasuke could whip out those disgusting, deadly hand-like wings and then, along with the advantage of flight, he'd have increased chakra.

_I have to defeat him before he's in curse seal state, then, even though I could easily access the Kyuubi's chakra and match his energy... That will have to be last resort, I guess. But how can I defeat him before he enters the state, when he barely has a bruise on him at all?_

The answer came swiftly. It was something that had always caused Naruto's own downfall, after all (_before, before, before_).

_Distraction._

_It always works. _

"Ne, Sasuke-bastard!" he called suddenly. Nothing about the Uchiha gave a sign of surprise—no change in posture, no flicker of empty black eyes. Naruto knew, though, that Sasuke was listening. A weirdly hollow feeling filled him when he realized Sasuke would never say, _"Baka. What?" _in that annoyed tone with him ever again.

_I really don't know this person anymore. __He's become a complete…stranger._

But he couldn't focus on semantics right now. He would never hear _anyone_ speak again, never mind Sasuke, if he didn't get out of this fight alive. Guess he'd underestimated Sasuke, or maybe…maybe Sasuke had underestimated him. Naruto had picked up a few tricks during his time as a missing-nin. After all, if he could severely injure Madara, who's to say he couldn't finish off Sasuke?

_**And who's to say you can't? **_the fox scorned. Back with a vengeance, apparently. _**Pay attention, brat, or else you're gonna die. And then I'll have to take over, which is fun, but a pain since I have to heal you at the same time. **_

Ignore him, Naruto repeated to himself, taking a deep breath. Then to the impassive, cold man who stood across from him: "So how where's that team of yours? Team Eagle or something?" Sasuke didn't answer. "Didja finally ditch them? I remember how that pink-haired fangirl, Karin, kept bugging you. She was a real pain, wasn't she?" Still no answer.

Gah. Stupid bastard for not rising to the bait. Plan B it was, then.

He sent the three clones he'd made earlier, when they were busy fighting each other, circling around the area that already had quite a few burns and holes. Even though Sasuke never went on the offensive first, he didn't hesitate to show that he was serious. That he really wanted to kill Naruto this time. He'd tried to kill Naruto again with that Thousand-Bird jutsu Kakashi had taught him (_just like the Valley of the End, we're fighting again_).

Naruto made sure the clones masked their chakra. He knew it was only a matter of time before Sasuke discovered the clones, so he had to keep the other nin focused on him for now. _Let's find your weak spots, Sasuke. It's not your former team; I should've known. You're too _alone_ for any of that. Maybe…_

"Was it easy to kill Orochimaru, ne?" Naruto kept up his loud voice, deceiving Sasuke into thinking he was the same idiot from the genin years they'd shared. It all felt incredibly false, especially in front of Sasuke, but hey, if it deluded his ex-best-friend into thinking he still _knew _Naruto, then he could care less. And it seemed to have worked - at his words, there was just a _tiny _flicker of something in Sasuke's pitch black eyes.

Naruto felt slightly insulted that he hadn't even bothered to activate the Sharingan yet.

Still, it wasn't enough of a reaction. He wanted something _big. _Something that would make Sasuke mad enough to attack without holding back.

"I guess not. You're as weak as you were before, are you?" Naruto stopped to mock-think for a moment, putting a finger against his chin contemplatively before grinning nastily. "Oh, never mind. Maybe you _are!_ You still haven't defeated Itachi. Personally, I find that very sad. Did you know a couple of years back, I killed Kakuzu? And Shikamaru finished off Hidan, who was immortal, by the way. That takes a long time." A slightly more responsive flicker. "Oh, and you know Madara? Uchiha Madara? Your centuries old ancestor who's miraculously still alive? Well, turns out he's working for the Akatsuki too, and I damaged him… quite a lot… I wonder if he's blind now, in fact."

Naruto's lips were curved up in a mocking smile—a very fake smile, fake because he just didn't _smile _anymore. He wondered if Sasuke knew him well enough to recognize that it was fake.

It hurt him to understand that he probably didn't... But it honestly didn't matter anymore. His old life had to be cut, and Sasuke was part of the old.

Naruto took a casual step forward. His clones had almost circled all the way around the clearing, meaning time was almost up. A sudden though flashed across his mind, an idea budding. It was a risky idea - but Naruto was known for risks, something he hadn't discarded when he became a missing-nin. "I suppose I'm stronger than you are now, right, bastard?"

Sasuke didn't twitch so much as a muscle for a couple of seconds. Something was building in those dark, dark eyes.

_Have I finally pushed him past his breaking point? Well, in case I haven't, here's something that will surely break your back, Sasuke..._

"Say, have you ever heard of the Dark Angel?" He paused to let Sasuke answer. His reward was a millimeter-raised eyebrow. Naruto grinned, ready to drop the final bomb. "Well! That's me! I'm the Dark Angel! But honestly, all those missing-nins were sure easy to take down… I guess I can deliver one more to Konoha. It wouldn't hurt them. Money's always good, and they've always been nothing short of greedy." He contemplated taking out the bingo book as proof, but figured it would be pushing things a little too far.

He was right.

Sasuke's eyes, without any provocation from any book, flashed red. "Don't say things you aren't!" he snarled. "You don't know _anything, _Naruto. With your silly concept of bonds, _friendships._" He spat out the word. "You don't know anything, because you've never been truly _alone! _Not like I was, not like I am. And everything they've said, all the people I've trained under, were _lies. _Except Orochimaru. He always told me that loneliness made your power strong! And you know what? _It was TRUE!_" Sasuke's face was contorted with rage.

Naruto was slightly taken aback, not having expected such a strong reaction.

_**It's still not enough, **_the Kyuubi murmured. _**He doesn't look like he'll come in close enough for short range attacks… You need something else, brat.**_

Naruto took another step forward, clenching his fists. "That's not true, Sasuke! Pain doesn't make anyone stronger." _Lies._ Then something struck him about what Sasuke had said. "Wait. Do you not know…"

Slowly, Naruto began to laugh. Laughing the laughs of someone who's just realized that the world had flipped, that everyone else _didn't know. _

In denial, maybe.

In the end, the same thing.

"You don't know, huh? Sasuke, where've you been? Under a rock?" Naruto gasped out, crazed laughter beginning to fade. Sasuke's face was growing darker.

_**Brat! What are you doing?** _

"Quit laughing," Sasuke hissed in a low voice. Naruto ignored him like he did everything—the Kyuubi, the pain in his heart, the loneliness, his friends. Everyone and everything…

"_Ahahaha_!" Suddenly, Naruto stopped his musically insane laughter, staring at Sasuke with strangely lonely eyes. Eyes that were remarkably similar to Sasuke's… (_just like everything else, we're still too alike_) "You see, Sasuke, I left the village two years ago." He held out his hands in an open gesture, taking another step just as his three clones flew out of the trees from behind Sasuke, who had an almost comical disbelieving look on his face. Naruto smirked and whispered his final words, his last secret.

_"I'm alone now, just like you."_

* * *

><p>"I OBJECT!"<p>

Tsunade stood up, slamming her hands down on the wooden table in front of her. Luckily she hadn't enforced them with chakra, so everyone still had a place to slam their heads in exasperation.

"We apologize, Tsunade-hime, but this is what we have decided," Utatane Koharu declared. The Hokage locked gazes with the Elder and the two engaged in a fierce staredown. For once, the female Elder refused to back down, and finally Tsunade sat down with a huff.

Tsunade, despite her actions, wasn't actually that worried about the ultimate decision. When she received the messenger bird three days ago in reply to her message about the rogue ninja, Tsunade had immediately done as Gaara had suggested and called a meeting for today.

What he'd said in his message was that they '_needed to discuss the status of Uzumaki Naruto_.'

Unfortunately, the Hokage was thinking along different lines than Gaara.

"Well," she said, ignoring the other elder. "Two in vote for hunting Uzumaki Naruto." It didn't appear that way, but she forced the words out from her pink lips, tasting the bitter aftertaste of betrayal on her tongue.

She scanned the ninjas in the seats around the conference table. The Nara clan was represented; Inuzuka, Aburame, Akimichi, Hyuuga, all of them. And then, for this meeting and this meeting only, the Konoha 10 (and Sai) had been granted special permission to observe the meeting; they stood in the back of the room, nearly blending into the shadows.

Finally, on the opposite end of the table, was Sabaku no Gaara and his siblings on either side of him.

Tsunade's lips twitched as she fought back a victorious smile. Surely, the Konoha 10 and Sai would vote no to hunting down Naruto, and most of their parents too. They were fair people. All the other clan members wouldn't matter against the younger children's votes. Combined with their parents, and hers, and Suna's… Well, this meeting was basically over already.

"She's looking confident," Sakura whispered to Ino, staring at her mentor's small smirk. Her friend nodded tensely, focused on the Kazekage sitting at the end of the table. Gaara was as composed as ever, eyes blank as he stared straight ahead.

"There's just something _off_ about Gaara…" Ino whispered back. Sakura turned her scrutinizing gaze onto the redhead. Sure enough, she could sense something just slightly wrong with the Kazekage.

"It's almost like…" she murmured to herself, brows furrowed.

Tsunade's voice momentarily stirred the thoughts of Gaara away. "Now, I call forward the younger generation of our village! Let us see what they choose; they, the fresher ninjas who've been out in the world recently. The ones who've learned how _harsh _the ninja way can be." Tsunade rose from her seat once more, waving forward the closest ninja.

It happened to be Lee.

"What is your vote, Lee?"

"Tsunade-sama! I vote no! I firmly believe we should not hunt our friend down. He is not causing any problems right now as it is." Lee's round determined eyes met Tsunade's, and her smirk widened. _Right again._

It never crossed her mind that her gambles usually lost.

She continued down the line of shinobi. "Kiba?"

"No!" There was an accompanying bark.

"Hinata!"

"Ah …no, Hokage-sama."

"Chouji!"

A no. Tenten was no, Neji no. Shino, no. Ino, no.

"Sai?"

The paper-white boy looked hesitantly at the elders, who were not, to his surprise, scowling. He'd would've thought they'd be upset by the way the votes were going, but it seemed like there was absolutely nothing wrong with the fact that it appeared Uzumaki Naruto was going to go free after all.

He cast his vote.

"No."

Tsunade was visibly grinning now. Despite the fact that a lot (okay, half) of the members of the meeting had disagreed to let the younger generation become involved in the voting process—"That boy had too much influence on them!"—she knew that without _all_ their votes, nothing would go the way she needed it to go.

"Shikamaru."

Sakura had been half listening as her sensei rolled off names, still staring at Gaara, trying to identify just what was wrong with him. It was like…like a light had gone out from within Gaara. Something had collapsed. It was startling familiar!

...

Oh.

She knew now.

It was the way Naruto had looked after he'd learned Jiraiya was dead, the way Kakashi had looked when they'd caught him haunting the memorial stone instead of meeting them for their mission. The way countless civilians had looked after Pein's attack: haggard, exhausted, forlorn. Like something had simply given out from the strain of caring too much…

Like Gaara had lost any hope of Naruto returning. Of Naruto becoming _good _again… "It's almost like he wants Naruto to die," Sakura whispered, shocked, just as Shikamaru said his answer:

"Yes."

Sakura, once again, half paid attention to the ruckus Tsunade was causing. "_Shikamaru? What the hell do you think you're doing?_" Barely noted the elders' triumphant grins. She was focused only on Gaara, only on his too-empty eyes.

_If Gaara, the one who everyone thought would never change—but did, because of _Naruto_—gave up…_

…_what _was _the possibility of him coming home?_

And that was when something inside Sakura seemed to give out as well.

"It's obvious Naruto won't return. And right now, running around dumping bodies, he's a menace to Konoha," Shikamaru was stating plainly. Ino had been gawking in shock at her spiky-haired teammate, but at his words, lowered her head a bit. It was hard to look at the pain in Shikamaru's eyes. It was obvious he had given this quite a bit of thought.

"Fine! Sakura!" Tsunade shouted, banging her fist against the table.

Once again, everyone grew still. Time itself seemed to slow...yet it flew forward all too quickly.

Sakura's whisper barely seemed to fill the room, yet it was as loud as a shriek echoing in a cave.

"_Yes."_

* * *

><p>Sasuke let out a wordless scream, menace and rage spiraling off of him in invisible tendrils, springing at Naruto so fast that he seemed to disappear into thin air. <em><strong>I told you that was a bad idea!<strong> _the Kyuubi growled, barely catching sight of a head of black hair disappearing toward his host. _**There he is!**_

Naruto lunged backward just as his three clones reached Sasuke from behind. He knew they wouldn't last very long—i.e., three seconds—against Sasuke, so Naruto quickly created a couple dozen more. He set them on making Rasengans. It was still pointless. Sasuke's eyes whirled red and black as he kicked, punched, and sliced Narutos apart with an ease that made Naruto wonder how many hours each day the man spent training. Not one ball of chakra touched the raven.

He turned to the one lone Naruto left in the midst of all the other clones' smoke. "Alone? What do you know about loneliness? You're just an idiot. All of you are idiots! None of you know _anything!_"

_It's my pain. My suffering._

Naruto grimaced. Sasuke was still spouting the same crap from two minutes ago. "Would you listen to yourself? You sound like…like—!"

"An Avenger? Well you know what? That's _WHAT I AM!_"

Sasuke brought his hand holding the sword up and sliced across Naruto's chest brutally.

Naruto disappeared in a poof of smoke, and without missing a beat, the real Naruto came charging out of the trees behind Sasuke. In his hand was a massive, larger-than-normal Oodama Rasengan.

Sasuke thrust out his left hand and instantly a bright blue light burst into existence, chirping almost too cheerily for the death scene waiting to happen. The Chidori grew brighter and brighter till it was almost too blindingly white to look at head on. Naruto didn't stop in his attack for an instant, and the two powerful attacks met with no resistance.

One giant crater hole later, Naruto stood at the very bottom, locked in a stance with Sasuke. His right hand gripped Sasuke's left wrist, which was pointed over Naruto's cloaked shoulder. His other hand held Sasuke's other wrist, which was connected to a hand clenching a sword.

"Are you sure about that?" Naruto asked softly (_is it never too late to turn back?_). Burning red eyes met equally crimson eyes. The burns on his forearms—the sleeves of his cloak had been sizzled away in the heat of the attacks—smoked slightly as the Kyuubi healed them.

"I know I'm stronger than you at least," Sasuke hissed, "because you rely too much on something that isn't _yours_!"

The Sasuke in Naruto's grip turned into slithering snakes, and Naruto leaped straight up into the air just in time to evade Sasuke's attack. He looked down to see a bright extended stream of Chidori pierce the air where'd he'd been. What the hell was that? Some sword made out of lightning?

"Chidori Flow," Sasuke said in a relaxed manner. He stepped back and the sword-like-thing swung with him. Naruto cursed in his head while his body moved automatically to somersault behind the missing-nin. Without pause, Sasuke sprang at Naruto once more.

The night grew later and crater holes increased in amount. The two elite missing-nins stood opposite each other, each on their own side of a crater. They were both panting hard, and Naruto knew he was running low on chakra. He didn't want to rely on the Kyuubi for this fight, especially after what Sasuke had said about relying too much on something that wasn't his.

_This has to be my victory and my victory _alone.

Both had suffered injuries. Only Sasuke, though, showed any sign of them. Naruto's cheek cut had long since healed and his newly received burns were quickly repairing themselves too. Sasuke however had a couple cracked ribs (from being slammed into trees), a few minor lacerations, and a twisted wrist.

_Sasuke must be running low on chakra too, _Naruto thought as he squinted his eyes to make out the other's figure. That meant it was time for the final attack. The ultimate jutsu that would decide the winner of the match and fate of the loser.

The two fighters locked eyes silently, both agreeing on the short truce. Naruto immediately thought of his attack.

_Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. _

Never mind the fact that it would probably kill Sasuke and him both. _**What of your promise then? **_There was no obvious malice in the Nine-tails' words; just neutral curiosity. _**You're just going to forget the promise you made to that pink-haired girl?**_ Naruto hesitated a bit before replying.

_Promise to Sakura-chan… Do you think I can really keep that? I've given so much up for the sake of Konoha. What's one more little promise? _And there was no more from the Kyuubi.

Naruto guessed that Sasuke would use a fire jutsu first, then some lightning jutsu. He was right.

"_Fire release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!_"

A giant flame-red dragon roared up into existence. But to Naruto's surprise, it didn't attack him; instead, the beast disappeared into quickly gathering clouds. Was it just him, or did the clouds seem to multiply now?

_Dammit. What's he doing? How does he have this much chakra left? __...Is he using the curse seal?_

"Cheater," Naruto grumbled as two clones appeared around him. He'd mastered the Rasengan enough that he could effortlessly call one into existence without a clone, but he had a ways to go yet with the Rasenshuriken.

Rumbling shook the skies, and he could no longer make out Sasuke's form at all in the gathering gloom. Quickly, he formed a Rasengan. His two clones began adding the wind element of the attack.

"Trying to do something, Naruto? You know you won't make it in time." Sasuke's deep voice cut through the night, like a steel knife. "This is my ultimate attack: Kirin!"

An electric blue dragon—what was up with the dragons, Naruto wondered before dispelling his clones—roared from the sky. There was something different about this one though. It was definitely a lightning attack…but—

_**He's using actual lightning! **_the fox warned. For once, the Kyuubi felt a stir of panic, and Naruto responded to his demon's fear.

_What do we do?_

_**We…we wait. For the one moment he starts to direct it toward us… you attack.**_ Naruto nodded.

The moment came all too quickly. Half a second—three-fourths of a second…7/8 of a second had passed before the dragon located Naruto.

It roared and dove down at rocketing speeds. When it was midway through—about one sixteenth of a second later—Naruto released his wind shuriken. The large blinding white 'shuriken' made _fwapp_ing noises as it spun toward the dragon. Opening its maw, the dragon appeared to try and swallow the jutsu whole.

It didn't work, to say the least.

Colors was the first thing Naruto registered after he flew backwards and hit a boulder. Bright spots danced across his eyelids; the explosion from the impact had sent him flying back a good thousand feet. A pounding headache arched through Naruto's head, similar to the ones he received from the Kyuubi, and he groggily stood up.

_Sasuke, _was the second thing Naruto thought. It wasn't concern for the enemy. It was a need to see if he was around, if he would attack when Naruto was weak. It was a primal instinct ingrained into him - into everyone.

He loped back toward the sight, world tilting around him. Damn. That crater was one of the freaking biggest craters he'd ever seen! It would take one hell of a construction team to fill all these babies up… The thought half-amused him before pain made its presence known once more.

Naruto slid down the earthy wall. The clouds hadn't cleared completely away yet, so some of those must have been real clouds and not summoned by Sasuke's fire dragon. He reached the bottom of the crater and stood again, ignoring the agony lancing through his bones whenever he moved. Took one step forward…another…

What he'd been waiting for happened. A blur launched out at him. He barely registered the blinding Chidori before his body moved on intuition, grabbing the already twisted wrist and bending it even more. Sasuke's face grimaced, revealing the lack of control the raven had. He must've been knocked into something hard too for him to forget about his mask like that.

That was the last thing to enter Naruto's mind before Sasuke's other hand pierced his chest.

"You forgot." Sasuke's voice wasn't perfectly smooth. It had little hitches and catches in it from him struggling to catch his breath; that brought a little comfort to Naruto, but Sasuke's next words were gloating despite his disorientation. "I'm ambidextrous."

Naruto's eyes were wide with—not shock, because something in him had known this would happen _again_—but more like regret. He relaxed his body, his hand falling off of Sasuke's other wrist. The only thing holding him up was the hand in his chest. "I knew this would happen, you know," he whispered to Sasuke. Blood welled up in his mouth, and he spat it on the ground. "I wouldn't be able to send you back." He chuckled slightly. Sasuke stared at Naruto before sliding his hand out of his chest with a sick slurping noise, and Naruto collapsed on the ground, smiling weakly. "And I know I won't die from this either." Naruto could feel the burning pain of the Kyuubi's chakra as it began healing his pierced lung. _Just like that first time, dammit. Like he'd missed the heart on purpose… _"This was certainly interesting, Uchiha Sasuke. Let us meet again one day. By then, I swear I'll be stronger than you."

The blond coughed up some more blood before saying sarcastically (_because didn't he just say promises meant nothing?_), "It'll be my promise to you."

Naruto kinda felt like he was floating now. Was the Kyuubi even healing him anymore? Or was he finally going to die once and for all? Would anyone miss him if he did? _Have I led a worthless existence? _he wondered before that too was chased away by the oncoming numbness.

All he felt now was an achingly hollow feeling in his chest, right over his heart. Huh. Maybe Sasuke hadn't missed after all…? No, it wasn't the piercing pain of the Chidori. This was more like sorrow. Loneliness. Because even if Sasuke denied what Naruto had told him, that was possibly the one truth Naruto had uttered all night.

"_I'm alone now, just like you."_

Right before he surrendered to the oncoming darkness, he felt something fall on his cheeks.

He would've said it felt like tears, except it was far colder. Rain.

(_Valley of the End repeated over again and again_)

And besides, who would cry for him?

* * *

><p>A few days after the meeting and battle, a team of elite ninjas were called onto the scene. All of the Konoha 10 were among them.<p>

Tsunade still wasn't speaking to Sakura. Sakura felt a bit sad about that, but she didn't regret her decision. Naruto—it hurt her to say it—was just making things more difficult for Konoha. In time, even he wouldn't be able to protect them, or himself, from the Akatsuki.

And once they caught the demon fox, everything would be over.

That was why, in three weeks time, they were set to go out and hunt Uzumaki Naruto down.

It was unstated in the document, but everyone could read between the lines.

_Kill _Uzumaki Naruto.

Sakura knelt in the largest—by far—crater. On the damp ground were bloodstains, blooming like some horrible brown-red graffiti flower. She took a sample of the ground and stood back up, ready to head home and figure out just which band of missing-nins were behind this particular battle (_though really, Sakura, don't you already know?_).

Just as she was about to jump back out of the crater, something bright and shiny caught her eye. She instinctively turned toward it.

Lying on the ground was a beat up metal forehead protector, glinting in the sunlight streaming. Set on black fabric, with a large scratch straight through the middle. Sakura's heart seized with panic and she quickly snatched it up, inspecting it. No doubt, it was Naruto's. Conflicting thoughts flew through her mind. Was Naruto still here? Watching her this very moment? (_Could he sense the betrayal tainting her very aura?_) Were the bloodstains Naruto's? Was he okay? Had he visited Konoha on October 10 after all?

What had happened here?

The last question was solved when she saw another dark blue forehead protector, a few feet away, and lying facedown. She picked it up, already knowing what she'd see.

Another scratch through the leaf symbol.

It was undeniably Sasuke's.

It was the one Sakura hadn't seen in two years, after it'd disappeared from Konoha after Pein's attack. No matter how hard she'd tried to find it…no avail. It wasn't in the secret hiding place only she and Naruto had known about.

Something deadly had happened here a couple of days ago, the night of the meeting. A fight, obviously.

Hinata leaped down the crater and dashed to her side, the normally shy girl hurrying her sentences with urgency. "Sakura! They've found something."

The two kunoichis ran side by side to a large boulder a thousand feet away from the crater. All around it, in a circle, was the rest of the Konoha 10. They parted wordlessly when Sakura approached, letting her see the two symbols burned with chakra into the center of the rock.

A black fan and a pair of dark blue angel wings.

The angel wings were slashed out.

* * *

><p><strong>(1) King of Sharingan: that was something Eddie Rath (awesome Naruto rapper, check him out on Youtube) said in one of his songs…no copyright intended.<strong>

**I debated a long time whether or not to make Sasuke into a cold bastard (diediedie), but in the end, I've decided to try and mix the two. I don't see how it's possible to make him into a cold bastard and finish my story line (vague story line lol) but I don't want him to be all 'happy, happy and I never abandoned you or Konoha'. You know? **


	6. Chapter Five

**A/N: UPDATE!**

**I am dumbfounded at how much I wrote in the last chapter. I was looking at the live preview thing, and I went "WHOAA! THIS IS SO FREAKING LONG!" I also wanna thank everyone who R&R'ed! I love you all! A TON! **

**That will probably be my longest chapter ever. Seriously. I doubt I can write so much again… I hope this chapter will be to your satisfaction though! Oh, and last time, I was reading through it and I kinda forgot to clarify (if anyone cares) when Naruto was thinking about 'his' signature jutsu and the 'stupid thing he did last time'? He was talking about Sasuke. Not Naruto. Also, in this chapter, there's an OC (is that how you say it?) character, kinda. Yeah, OC…**

**Disclaimer: *sound of marker on whiteboard* I will not kidnap Naruto again. I will not kidnap Naruto again. I will not kidnap Naruto again…**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Five<strong>

_Alone, all alone_

_Nobody, but nobody_

_Can make it out here alone. _

–Alone, by Maya Angelou

_I want to feel passion, I want to feel pain. I want to weep at the sound of your name. Come make me laugh, come make me cry…just make me feel alive. _–Joey Lauren Adams

Why is it so dark?

Why is it so cold?

Why…

Why am I all alone?

A lone thought spiraled in his mind.

_Why should you be so surprised?_

_You've always_ _been alone._

* * *

><p>Naruto's eyes flew open. Nothing else moved. He didn't breathe, blink, or so much as twitch a finger. Then slowly he relaxed, letting his eyes wander around the low-ceiling, stone room.<p>

Wait. Huh?

Stone? When did he get here? And why wasn't he back home at his tree house? Naruto sat bolt upright. Almost immediately the world whirled and he flopped back down onto the soft blanket he'd been sleeping on. "Stop…spinning…" he groaned, closing his eyes again. Naruto could feel the rough floor under the blanket, which didn't have enough fluff to provide very good comfort.

Gingerly, Naruto tried again, this time sitting up slower. The world still spun sickeningly, but it wasn't as crazy-tornado-ish as the first time. He carefully tilted his head to allow his eyesight to encompass the right side of the room, taking in the bare walls and low torches hung in the corners. They were shining with a blue-ish shine, so they were probably enforced with chakra to allow them to stay aflame for a longer period of time.

_**Now, look left,**_ the deep mental voice jeered. Naruto just sighed wearily, massaging his temples. Great, now a headache was settling in? This was just not his day. What day was it anyway?

_Nice to know you're alive, Nine-tails._

_**No thanks to you. **_The words were curt and had a distinct edge to them. Oh, so now the Kyuubi was mad, was he! Well, it's not like it was—never mind, it _was _Naruto's fault. But still. It wasn't like he could avoid it altogether! And now he knew he had to train harder and—_**Keep talking to yourself, stupid.**_

"You ungrateful little—!" Naruto began, unaware that he'd been speaking out loud until it was too late.

"Talking to yourself?"

He jolted, whipping his head around much too fast and ended up back on the ground, moaning. "Don't strain yourself so fast," the smooth voice continued. The owner of it was hidden far in the shadows, so even if Naruto looked, he probably wouldn't make anything except a figure out.

When he felt capable of talking again, Naruto gritted out, "Who are you?"

A warm, melodious laugh. "Not so fast, Nine-tails." He stiffened. Whoever this was knew about his demon. But if they did, why didn't they have him chained? Anyone normal would do that with such a dangerous shinobi in their…what was this? A house?

The voice grew closer as the person approached with light tapping footsteps. "Let me check your wounds first, and then we may talk." Naruto opened his mouth to speak again. "Shh. Talking really isn't the best idea right now. You've got a minor concussion."

_Well, Kyuubi? You got anything to say?_

_**You needed to suffer a little.**_

_Gee, I feel loved now._

He stopped talking to himself abruptly when the girl finally stepped into the light.

_Breathtaking,_ was the first thought he had when he could think again. The girl wasn't as much tall as willowy, with a slender figure and long limbs. Her feet were bare, and her clothes were just as strange: a black shirt that looked too big on her, hanging to her mid-thighs and elbows like a tunic. She had on tight-fitting black shorts, and that was it. Raven hair fell over her shoulders, the ends curling up in an oddly familiar style.

The eyes cinched it.

They were dark and fathomless, just like Sasuke's, but had a light in them that Naruto hadn't seen in Sasuke's since their gennin years together. They were identical to Sasuke's, basically, except they had ridiculously long eyelashes. Naruto opened his mouth to say something about her eyes…however, his brain had other plans.

"THAT TEME! HE HAD A TWIN SISTER ALL THIS TIME AND HE DIDN'T TELL ME?.!"

The girl winced slightly at the deafening shriek, quickly pattering over to Naruto and kneeling. "Don't scream like that," she hissed. "You baka! Noise reverberates in caves, and if you scream, it'll just bounce back and forth and do absolutely _nothing _for your headache. He was right," she muttered, "you _are _an idiot."

See? She even _talked like Sasuke!_

Well, like Sasuke _did_ may be more accurate.

"Don't call me an idiot!" The answer was automatic. "Who _are _you?"

"I'm not Sasuke's twin," she answered, looking amused. The torches' lights flickered across the room and threw her features into shadow one second, brilliantly lit the next. "That's for sure. I think."

Something else occurred to Naruto. "Then…_are_ you Sasuke?" When she didn't reply fast enough for Naruto, he gasped. "I knew it! I KNEW YOU WERE ALWAYS A CROSSDRESSER!"

"STOP YELLING!" she shrieked back.

A little while later, Naruto groggily opened his eyes again, and found that the mystery girl had laid a cool towel across his forehead. It helped immensely with the migraine that pounded itself into his skull. No, Naruto was definitely not going to yell like that again. How did girls have so loud and high voice boxes anyway? He had almost gone _deaf!_

Now that he thought of it, where'd the girl go? Naruto still wasn't convinced that she wasn't Sasuke's twin or something, but he doubted he was a crossdresser. Sadly. That would've been so funny though! He laughed lightly to himself.

"I see you're back to your old crazy self." Naruto knew better to look around, instead choosing to wait for the girl to reappear again. She did so, taking her own sweet time. At last, she knelt in front of Naruto once more and took off the towel. "I hope you've learned your lesson, Nine-tails."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Okay, first of all, would you quit calling me that? I'm a person, thankyouverymuch. Not some 'it'." She just smirked slightly—there! Another sign she was a…oh my god, what if she was a Sasuke clone? Someone cloned Sasuke while he slept! Or…or he henged himself? But why would he do that? Did he _want _to be a girl? Naruto's mind threw itself into overdrive again. The girl let out a giggle, slapping Naruto in a way that was probably light to her, if her reaction was any judge when Naruto's head was flung to the side by the force of the hit.

"Oh! I'm _so sorry._" Or maybe not. The sarcasm in her tone couldn't have been the normal way she talked when she was apologizing, could it? "You can quit thinking about if I'm Sasuke's clone or him henged or something." Naruto's eyes widened. "No, I'm not a mindreader either." His mouth opened and closed like a fish. "It's just because your face is so easy to read, idiot."

Naruto's face reddened. Okay, this was getting embarrassing. Sasuke calling him 'dobe' in his early gennin years was bad enough, but a girl doing it? That went straight to downright humiliating. "I'll stop thinking about possibilities of you being Sasuke if you stop calling me idiot," he proposed.

"I'll try," was the noncommittal answer. Well, that didn't sound very 'trying'. Especially when she added lowly, "It'll be really hard though."

Naruto glowered at her, doing his best 'I'm-imitating-Uchiha-Sasuke' glare. It didn't really have much affect on her, considering she was Sasuke's … thing. Yeah, a thing. "Tell me if it hurts," she instructed. She ran her hands down his arms, applying slight pressure here or there. Naruto shook his head. She moved onto his chest, gaining an appeased look when she unwrapped the bandages to find perfectly smooth skin. "I guess demon's are good for something, Niiii—aruto," she quickly improvised.

"I knew you were going to say Nine-tails," he accused. It felt strangely easy to be around this girl, stranger or not. It was like how it'd been to hang around younger Sasuke, minus the rivalry. Unfortunately, the insults stuck.

The girl smirked again and without warning, put her hands on his head. And not very gently, either. _"OW! That hurt!" _Naruto writhed in her grasp, trying to free himself. She held onto his head and patiently waited till pain took over again, forcing Naruto to collapse back onto his blanket.

"I'm sorry." The _'not at all' _part was left unsaid. "Softer?" She lessened the pressure just a bit, and Naruto bit back a wince. He would not cry out, he would _not _cry out! He was a man!

"OW!"

"I'm just doing my job. You on the other hand keep moving so it's all your fault."

"Couldn't you just, I don't know, be a little lighter? I'm the one with a concussion here!"

"And who's fault was that? You hit the boulder!"

Naruto paused. How did this random girl know about that? His face grew serious. She sensed the change in attitude and sat back, crossing her legs Indian-style. Her hair fell slightly in front of her eyes, and the change was immediate. The light in the once glimmering eyes was snuffed out, and she looked exactly like Sasuke did now. Except with long hair. And _curves. _

Ah! He mentally slapped himself. "Who are you?" he asked instead, voice quiet.

She just looked at him, before raising her eyes to the ceiling. "I promised you, Sasuke, I wouldn't tell. But you're gone. You're always gone. You never come back to me anymore, not even to visit. Maybe…if I just tell Naruto, he'll bring you back, eh? Back to the light. Even if he doesn't go with you."

It sounded like rambling to Naruto. _Hey, she _did _know my name after all! _a part of him huffed indignantly. All the other parts of him hushed the first part furiously. "Wha…?"

The girl sighed before beaming at Naruto. She seemed more at peace with herself now, as if she'd reached a decision.

"Let's start this over. Pretend you're meeting me for the first time." She stood up and stretched a hand out to him. Naruto frowned. Wasn't a guy supposed to do that? He brushed the pale hand aside and shakily stood up on his own. The girl shook her head and hurried over to the shadows. Naruto heard some clinking and sounds of clay jars being moved around. She soon returned with a nasty smelling cup of something oozing and green.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Was he supposed to _drink _that?

Ew. No.

"Yes," she said firmly.

"No."

"Yes."

"I SAID **_NO!"_**

"I SAID _**YES!"**_

A little while later, he found himself being force-fed the disgusting green medicine. The ringing in his ears didn't go away, but the pounding migraine did. "Eeehhh," he stumbled, slightly woozy.

"I told you not to shout," she replied triumphantly, putting the cup on the floor. "Are you feeling better now?"

"I s'pose," Naruto grumbled, running a hand through his spiky hair. It left such a bitter aftertaste too! "Sooo what are we doing?"

"We're reintroducing ourselves." Her voice was patient. "You first."

"Isn't it ladies first…?" When the girl opened her mouth threateningly again, he quickly complied.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Nice to meet ya!" Naruto grinned, easily replacing the past personality he'd cast aside.

A faint worry line appeared between the girl's eyebrows, like she knew something was off about this Naruto that had just talked. "Hello, Uzumaki Naruto." She shrugged and stepped closer, lifting her face up. Her eyes were still dark.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke."

* * *

><p>Dumbfounded, Naruto could only stare in shock at the <em>girl<em>—G-I-R-L—in front of him. A thousand thoughts raced through his head at once.

_Waiitttt a moment! So Sasuke _is _a girl? No, you idiot. He doesn't crossdress! Maybe…he IS a clone! I knew it! NOO! Moron! Why are you calling yourself a moron? I don't know! Why is he a girl? Why is he a GIRL? I thought Sasuke was a guy! What's going oooooooooooooooon?_

"You're confused," Sasuke-as-a-girl stated blandly. "I knew it. You're just too dumb to understand. Kakashi-sensei always had to explain the basics to you in the most simplified manner. Idiot." That only earned a suspicious look.

"Okay, Naruto, listen! Your brain's gonna explode if you keep thinking like this. Face it, it's just not made for extreme thinking." She smirked.

That ticked Naruto off. "Okay, that's it! I don't care if you're a girl or not, Sasuke…Sasuke? _Girl? _That's weird…" He got sidetracked again. Multiple expressions raced across his face: anger, confusion, utter stupidity, then more confusion, another suspicious look, and finally, once more, confusion.

_The girl_—there, that worked—had a funny look on her face, as if she was trying to hold in one of those fireballs or something. Finally when Naruto's face chose to settle on complete dumbfounded confusion, she burst out laughing.

Actually. Laughing.

Okay, so she wasn't Sasuke, the guy who never ever laugh even to save his life, but she had looked pretty damn close, especially when that light went out of her eyes. Now, though, the light had rekindled, and she kept letting loose peals and peals of laughter that bounced off the cave walls. Naruto was slightly transfixed by the sound.

After a few more gasps of much-needed air, she held up a hand, nearly doubled over. "Aw my…stomach hurts," she panted out, pushing some hair away from her face. Naruto didn't know if he was hurt because she was laughing at him or mesmerized. Although it felt slightly wrong to be mesmerized by someone also called 'Sasuke'.

_Maybe her name's a coincidence! _He realized in shock.

_**You fool! She said **_**'UCHIHA'. **_**How many people do you know with the surname **_**'UCHIHA'? **Looks like the Kyuubi was back.

_I'm sorry! _he answered, annoyed. Really. It was like the fox had no life except to taunt Naruto!

Wait.

The fox _didn't_ have a life.

Huh.

His attention was drawn back to her. "That was … so funny!" The girl finally managed to stop her giggles, straightening slightly. "You should've seen your expression, dobe!"

The odd thing was, Naruto should've been angry by all rights. _Nobody _was allowed to call him 'dobe'. Unless… and that's where the odd part kicked in. A strange feeling gripped his chest, like something was squeezing it painfully tightly. _Sasuke. Why won't you go back? _The thought was desperate. Sending Sasuke to Konoha. It wasn't as much as a promise not kept, but more of a lifeline to hang on to. When he was in the thrashing waves of loneliness, what else could he do other than hang onto the boat that was Sasuke? Sasuke might also be getting thrown around…but at least Naruto wasn't alone.

How incredibly selfish of himself.

A fox's selfishness.

The reason he'd gotten through all those days by himself was because he'd always known somewhere that Sasuke was also alone. Also suffering. And if Sasuke suffered, then he wasn't alone after all. There was someone _out there. _

Then things changed.

After the first time he'd gone back to Konoha, and witnessed the scene at the memorial stone, his view on loneliness changed. It hurt him to see Sakura and all his friends suffering so much; suffering over the loss of both him and the Uchiha. So naturally there was only one conclusion he could think of, being Naruto.

He had to send Sasuke back at all costs, if only to help them ease their pain a bit. That way, at least one of them returned.

Naruto didn't really care what happened to himself after that.

Now, that was his lifesaver that kept him from drowning in solitude.

However, that didn't explain why he always felt this way whenever he saw past memories of himself and Sasuke and Sakura. Whenever he saw memories with other teammates—Ino, Lee, Shino, Kiba—it was always like watching a movie of someone else's life. Not his own. Detached.

Impersonal.

Sasuke, Sakura… Seeing them felt like a vice had gotten a hold of his heart. He guessed that his bonds had grown too tight for them to be severed easily. Naruto was determined to do his best to cut them, though. If he was a hunter-nin…if he was a _missing_-nin…if Naruto was a killer, he couldn't have weaknesses. Wasn't that what Sasuke had always believed?

"Naruto! Naruto? _Wake up already! _AGHH!"

He felt a stinging across his cheekbone. Blearily reopening his eyes—for what, the third time?—again, Naruto saw a blur of pale skin and black before his eyes refocused. And when they did focus, he gasped and tried to move away a couple inches…cough, feet. What the hell? Invading personal space here! But he couldn't move, because he found he was on the floor, flat on his back. _Again._

"My head hurts," he tried to say. It came out as: "Muh frwed hats."

The girl moved back a bit from where she'd crouched over him—an inch away from his face. "Your head hurts, does it? Figures." She got up in a fluid motion, voice as unbothered as if she'd never panicked a moment in her life. "You hit your head against the floor, like you fainted or something, idiot. All of a sudden, you just collapse. That's something only idiots can do, idiot."

Naruto stared in slightly stunned disbelief. What was with this girl? "Did…" _"Fid…"_

"Yes?"

He cleared his throat, forcing the syllables to come out right. "Did you slap me?" Of course, some vowels still mixed with the consonants, but he couldn't help that.

"It felt surprisingly good." The girl was once again in the shadows. Naruto heard what sounded like clay jars clinking (again) and before he could make the connection, she was back by his side and forcing green stuff down his throat.

AGAIN.

"Why does this keep happening to me?" he groaned once he was able to talk again. Naruto was faintly pleased that throughout all this, his personality-mask had stayed firmly cemented on.

The girl made a faint 'hn' noise. "It's not my fault. And we are not starting this all over again. Listen, idiot, do you want to hear my side of the story or not?" Naruto snapped his mouth shut and nodded. This was getting on his nerves too. He wanted to know why this person looked so much like Sasuke, claimed to have the same name as Sasuke, and… How was this person related to Sasuke?

What did she mean when she'd said, _"I'd promised you, Sasuke…but you're always gone."_

_Always gone._

Which meant he'd had to have visited this strange female more than once. He'd had…dare Naruto say it…a _bond _with this girl.

Naruto was determined to figure out what kind of girl could make the cold bastard _feel _something. Maybe then…maybe then she could help. Help force Sasuke to go back to his former home.

"I want to hear it," he replied firmly, sitting up once again. (But God! That medicine was terrible!)

For a long time, the girl sat in silence in front of him, her hair masking her expression. Naruto waited as patiently as he could, but he could only take so much. "Are you going—"

"Okay," she whispered so softly that Naruto could barely catch the word. The girl looked up to meet blue with black. Like so many times before…a wave of nostalgia passed over Naruto before he could suppress it, making him shudder.

"This is the story of how I, Uchiha Sasuke, was born."

* * *

><p>I am sure you are aware of the yin and yang chakra, especially since the Kyuubi seems to have spilled the beans on everything he knew. And no interruptions, idiot. Don't you want to hear the story all at once? I don't care that I'm interrupting myself—<p>

*minutes later, scuffle sounds stopped*

(Slightly breathless) Listen! Yin chakra and yang chakra. That's like the male Sasuke and me. Except… Sasuke's whole clan was massacred, years ago, I assume you remember. After that event, a change occurred within him. He completely turned himself around, you could say. I was already inside of him then, kind of like how the Kyuubi is in you. But I wasn't a demon. I was just there, helping him, I suppose. It was my decision to jump in front of you and save you from Haku. I guess Sasuke could've done that by himself, but I urged him to do it.

You could call me Sasuke's conscience.

I don't know exactly how to describe myself. I never thought I'd come _out _of Sasuke, for sure. I know this hasn't ever happened before, Naruto. I'm aware. Yes. Can I go on?

I came into existence—if you could call it that—after the battle in that valley. Sasuke was weak after fighting you, and he collapsed for a few minutes in the forest. That was all the time it took for me to separate from Sasuke. I'm…different, you could say. I didn't want him to fight you. I wanted Sasuke to stay. Stay warm. With friendship. Sasuke was too strong for me though. His desire to avenge his clan overpowered mine, and with the two consciences inside him struggling so much, naturally one had to leave. And so I was expelled.

I left Sasuke after that. I didn't want to see him lose himself, what was left of himself. But Sasuke found me, a few months into training with Orochimaru. He was sent on a mission of some sort, and by utter chance and foolishness on my part… I was captured.

To my surprise, he didn't turn me over to Orochimaru. He even seemed to _know _that I was him! Essentially. Shut up, Naruto. I KNOW I'M A GIRL! It's Sasuke's fault he took all the manly parts! Do you think I _want _to be a girl?.!

Instead, Sasuke sealed me away in this cave, and whenever he wished so, he would visit. I don't need anything to survive except Sasuke. As long as Sasuke's conscience that currently inhabits his body is alive and struggling against me, I am alive. If it chooses to accept that he doesn't need avenging to live, then I will die. A peaceful death. I would rather die, Naruto, than stay in here.

Because I have a gift that Sasuke finds…valuable. I can sense life forces with my Sharingan, and once I've sensed them and labeled them, I can track them. I'm like a gigantic spy network, all from one person. That is why he keeps me in here. I used to not mind so much Sasuke imprisoning me, because he would still talk about you and the others. Recently though…

Sasuke has grown cold. He's like a star, basically, far away and untouchable. Even I can not reach him anymore. Do you remember what he told you at the fight? Yeah, you get it now? The reason I knew about the boulder was because I was tracking your fight. I don't want either of you hurt.

Why…? That's a complicated question Naruto. Maybe we should save that for later, eh? So do you remember what he said?

Yes. "Your friendships." But that doesn't apply to you anymore, does it? No, I'm not a freaking therapist, thank you. Or a mind reader. I told you, you have an incredibly easy face to read! LET ME CONTINUE! Oh sorry, I didn't mean to _shout _or anything…

Loneliness _does _make your power strong, because you know pain. You know what it feels like, despite having emotions. But having bonds doesn't make your power weak either. It shows you how to have empathy. Otherwise you just might lose the human part of yourself.

Although, I suppose that's what both you and Sasuke want. Utter killers, emotionless beings. I can't change your way of life, but perhaps you can be the one to finally bring Sasuke back, Naruto. It hurts me to see him like this. It hurts me to see you like this, pretending to keep the personality you'd shed two years ago.

Why, you ask, didn't I tell Sasuke about you leaving?

I don't have an answer for that. I guess… I wanted you to meet. I wanted to you fight, for Sasuke to lose. For him to return, and bring you.

I know now that that's impossible.

But one of you can still go back. You both are alone, but you both have each other. So are the two of you really alone at all?

I don't think so.

You made a promise, Naruto. And even if that's not part of your Nindo anymore, you would still keep it wouldn't you? So you could finally be free. You promised to make Sasuke return, even at the cost of your own happiness. Don't cry, Naruto. This is what you wanted… Cruel words, but true. Don't cry.

I want you to promise me something, something extremely self-centered of me. Something that would only benefit myself... You must listen to me. Konoha is preparing to kill you. Akatsuki is preparing to capture you. Sasuke is preparing to destroy you. Everything is coming for you. _You have no one. _But even through all that… I want you to promise me something Naruto. Promise?

Good.

I want you to kill me.

* * *

><p>"<em>By then, I swear I'll be stronger than you."<em>

Blood, rich crimson blood, stained the ground.

"_It'll be my promise to you."_

* * *

><p><strong>AHH! Screw what I said before. I did <strong>_**another **_**long chapter! I must love you all very much X) why doesn't girl-Sasuke want Naruto **_**or **_**Sasuke hurt? What does she mean by 'kill'? And will she finally get a new name?.! All revealed… in four days! Patience, children. **

****IMPORTANT! Please read…* I have narrowed Sasuke-chan's (lol) name down to two. Nakami, which means inner beauty, and Sakiko, which means blossoming child… so if you guys can tell me which one you like better (cause it's really weird to keep calling the girl 'Sasuke', and I refuse Sasu-chan or something) I'd be really grateful! I won't pressure you into leaving a review or anything, so you can just… I don't know. Let me know somehow, okay? Or else I'll just end up with my own… mwahhahaha!**

**I don't know why I always have multiple scene breaks in which people are all doing different things all the time in every chapter. I guess it's for the **_**suspense! **_***gasp* yeah I really don't know why. I hope it doesn't bother anyone. Though I refrained from doing it this chapter! Yay!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I updated (see the connection?) Haha not really, I'd never do that to you and not update for a whole month. Unless I go on vacation, which I might do. But! I'd give you a warning…why am I saying this now? Thanks if you drop a line and tell me how my story is—free cookies anyone?—and also thanks for reading! *waves* See you next time! **

**And this is gummybear1620 signing off…back to FF (dot) net! ^-^**

**TBC!**


	7. Chapter Six

**A/N: I AM BACK! *evil laugh***

**This just came to me randomly: Ah, please excuse any typos I made. For the whole story. Just in advance. :) I wanna thank everyone (again) for reviewing… and I especially wanna thank The Phoenix Is Immortal for reviewing every chapter since you found my fic, so THANKS! And…. well, everyone. Yeah. DarkenedRainbow, for being my first reviewer, and grimangel163, and… EVERYONE! Just for reading too. Sorry if I didn't put your name in… next time? **

**The result of Sasuke-chan's name is…**

"**Nakami"! Yeah, I find that kinda ironic too… (: Hopefully, this chapter will clear up some stuff about both Sasukes (that's funny) and if it doesn't… eh, oh well. IT SHOULD! And this chapter is slightly darker than the previous chapter. Ah, and to clear up any confusion, Sasuke-chan (the girl) was just kinda pulled from his body. Pushed out, or something. And in the end, her form manifested into a female form, because... Sasuke took all the masculine, stronger parts, being the stronger conscience. Yeah, that's it. (who just believed me?) I could've made her a guy, I guess, but then we would have two Sasuke-kuns and that's just creepy. Kinda like how the Bijuu were extracted but less painful looking and none of the creepy glowing eyes and mouth stuff… I suppose. If that made any sense at all, then okay! And onto the story now.**

**Warning: More Shippuden characters. Although if you think about it, this whole story is Shippuden. So… Why would you read if you don't know who these characters are…? XD I would, actually… and Madara warning about his collection of eyes. You'll see what I mean later. **

**Disclaimer: I would like to own Naruto, but Sasuke can stay yours, Kishimoto-san… **

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Six<strong>

_When a man takes an oath… he's holding his own self in his hands. Like water. And if he opens his fingers then – he needn't hope to find himself again._ –Robert Bolt

_For every promise, there is a price to pay. _–Jim Rohn

"K-kill you?" Naruto spluttered, eyes opening wide. "What the—don't say stuff like that! You make it sound like you actually _wanna _die…"

The girl was still sitting in front of him, face calm and serene as ever. Yes, she was very much like Sasuke, wasn't she? Nothing broke past the mask of indifference on her face unless she willed it to. Naruto had never understood why Sasuke was like that. Was it because of his clan? If Naruto had had a family, a brother, parents, and his brother had murdered his family, would Naruto have turned out that way? Shutting himself off, making himself inhumanly emotionless. Alone in a place full of people. The very thought made Naruto shudder, even as his little annoying voice in his head mocked him.

_Well, Naruto, isn't that how we are now? Completely alone even with others?_

Naruto bit back the rage that covered up the ache from the words. It was true though. He and Sasuke were really more alike than he thought…or wanted.

She was speaking.

"Maybe I do, then, Naruto. I told you, didn't I? _'I would rather die, Naruto, than stay in here._' And the only reason I _can _die, is if you make Sasuke forget about his dream. Don't you get it?" And suddenly, she was desperate. "If I stay, Sasuke will feel powerful, because of my 'gift'! Ha, gift. It's like a curse that feeds into Sasuke's greed for power and avenging. Maybe this is my punishment for being alive at all.

"But the point is, Naruto, if you kill Sasuke's desire to avenge, then the side of him that wants peace will die too—me." Naruto interrupted then.

"That's a bad thing! Don't throw your life away like it means nothing. Everyone's life means something!" he argued.

She smiled gently. Once again, her face was composed, as if the break in rank had never even happened. Naruto found it amazing that Sasuke—either side of him—could even do that. The weird truth that girl-Sasuke had fed him hadn't surprised him, really. After all, this _was _the ninja world. We're talking about people with six arms and two heads here. Not to mention people like Orochimaru who can rebirth themselves and have sword tongues a thousand feet long.

Basically, anything can happen in the ninja world.

The girl raised a hand, holding a handkerchief in the pale fingers. She moved it toward his face. Instinctually, he flinched away. Two years of being alone had done that to him. Instead of looking hurt, she just smiled again, making her face light up. "Good. Don't put on that fake personality again, please. It isn't you anymore when you act like that." Naruto let his eyes remained hooded, taking the handkerchief without touching her, silently wiping the remnant of the tears from his face.

He looked up slowly. There was no sign of any smile on his face when he spoke: "Wasn't it a law? Shinobi rule 25: never show any tears."

"It's okay to cry sometimes though," she replied. "It's not a weakness."

Naruto's face hardened, instantly closing off those expressive eyes. "I'm sorry if I'm contradicting you, but feelings _are weaknesses. _Bonds are weaknesses. Crying is a weakness. That's why ninjas don't cry." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "I'm sorry… What should I call you? I really need a new name."

The girl tilted her head to the side, questioning. "Why?"

"Because referring to you as Sasuke is just too weird." The girl frowned, then shrugged, conceding.

"I wouldn't know. I've never talked to anyone else before."

Naruto's eyes opened in surprise, blue looking purple in the shadows. "Really? Then… how did I get here?"

"Well…" The girl hesitated, glancing down. "Sasuke brought you here."

* * *

><p>Night fell in the Land of Water. Shadows dimmed in the mountains, and the predators of the night emerged to hunt, including several missing-nins that prowled the area, foolishly staying close to Kirigakure no Sato. Mist also settled in, dense and wet, making it hard to see a mere ten feet ahead.<p>

Water still trickled over the creek beds, flowing into the ninja village. One could see sentries along the outskirts of the village, patrolling it dutifully.

As precise as the formation was, however, they couldn't stop a certain black-haired ninja from sneaking into the village. Fact was, few could slow down, much less stop, Uchiha Sasuke.

He vaulted onto the rooftops, uncaring if any villagers saw him. It wasn't as if he couldn't take them on. Although he doubted they _could _see him, seeing how he was in the middle of a forest. On top of a cylindrical building. It's sad that they had to implant forests on top of houses just because they didn't have them anywhere else, Sasuke sneered.

A little to the left of his current building was an alleyway. There was nothing remarkable about this alleyway, except for the recent watery splashes on the ground. Sasuke soundlessly jumped down into the alley, instantly on red-alert. Sure enough, he heard a barely perceptible whistling through the air as a heavy sword landed right where his head had been a second before.

"Is that any way to greet me?" Sasuke asked coldly from farther down the alley. His reply was a low chuckle, and the sword was retrieved by a pale hand. Sasuke's eyes followed the glimmering arc the sword made as it was hefted—effortlessly—onto the shoulder of the ninja.

"Well, Sasuke, can you blame me? You're too quiet!" Hozuki Suigetsu sauntered forward, a hand in his pocket, the other on the handle of Zabuza's sword. His blue-white hair shined slightly in the dusk, as did his purple eyes. Actually, _all _of Suigetsu was pale, including his clothes. "Whoa, you look like you ended up on the receiving end of a major fight."

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed, just a fraction of a millimeter, but that was all the prompt Suigetsu needed. "You _did_, didn't you? Uchiha Sasuke got pummeled!"

The next sound he made was an _'oof'_ noise as a pink blur landed on top of him, knocking himself onto the ground. The girl yelled, "DON'T INSULT SASUKE!" and kicked Suigetsu before jumping to her feet and running to Sasuke (1), throwing her arms around him.

Sasuke pushed her away before leaning against the wall, refusing to let himself slump onto the ground. His ribs still ached, and his wrist was wrapped tightly in bandages. No Chidori with his left hand anytime soon. In fact, as soon as he was done with this retarded meeting, he was going straight to an inn and sleep. It amused him to stay right in the heart of the ninja world without the shinobi ever suspecting his presence. _If I wanted, I could completely destroy them._

Karin huffed and pushed up her glasses, crossing her arms. "Are you okay, Sasuke? You …do look like you got into a fight." She cringed a bit, waiting for the rebuke. None came. It looked like Sasuke was either in a good mood—very unlikely—or he was extremely tired—also very unlikely.

"Of course you never ask if _I'm_ okay," Suigetsu grumbled as he picked himself off the ground. On his face was a distinct boot-imprint.

"You have too weird skin to get hurt," Karin sneered. "Water freak."

"Oh! You wait until I get all the seven swords! Then _you'll _be sorry you ever messed with Hozuki Suigetsu!"

"I doubt it. It's not like you'd know how to use them."

"Whaa! Listen here! I trained for this my _whole life! _I—" Suigetsu was cut off as a hand wrapped around his stomach and lifted him up. Juugo silently carried him to where Sasuke was. Juugo plopped the ex-Kiri ninja down in next to Karin, settling himself in front of Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched as all of his ex-teammates sank down on the dirty alley ground, looking expectantly up at him. His body wanted to sit, but his pride wouldn't allow it. So sit? Or not sit? Sit? Not sit?

"Just sit, Sasuke. We're going to be here for a little while," Juugo advised. His orange hair had grown out a bit and fell into his eyes. Sasuke's teeth clenched automatically. He hated taking any form of orders, even if it was good for him, but forced his mind to let his body sit stiffly upright. A few minutes of awkward silence passed. Suigetsu had his head in his hand, bored, and Karin was _still _staring at Sasuke.

"Do you want something?" he finally snapped. Karin jolted before smiling sickeningly sweetly. The look she gave him left a sick feeling in his stomach and head.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun! I only thought maybe…" She demurely lowered her eyes, even putting up a real-looking blush. "…maybe you could…bite me?" Sasuke's expression must've given his disbelief away. "Ah, Sasuke! Remember, my chakra heals?"

Oh yes. He remembered, only too much.

Sasuke turned his head away in denial. She really was annoying. Almost more annoying than Sakura. Were pink-haired kunoichis annoying by default or something? Naruto's words flashed unbidden through his mind. _"So where's that team of yours? Team Eagle or something? Didja finally ditch them? I remember how that pink-haired fangirl, Karin, kept bugging you. She was a real pain, wasn't she?" _How Naruto understood him. Even now.

That was something his _other self _would say, anyway.

"Let's get this over with," he said aloud shortly, focusing on Karin. If she didn't have her chakra sensing abilities, Sasuke would have abandoned her long ago. Even _with _her abilities, he constantly considered 'accidentally' forgetting her in the forest. "You first, Karin."

After a considerable amount of blushes and suggestive looks, Karin finally talked. "I have looked into the five great ninja villages, but I couldn't find anyone with Itachi's chakra." Karin began looking more serious. "He could've hidden it, but I was very thorough. He's not in any village, Sasuke." At this, Sasuke frowned. _Not in a village…_

Suigetsu went next, hand still propping up head as he gave his report lazily. "Ne…not much. I looked in the other smaller villages. Itachi wasn't there. In fact, none of the Akatsuki were." His face brightened as he remembered something. "Ah! But I almost got Kisame's sword! In Kumo. It was an intense battle—"

Sasuke waved his hand and cut him off, inclining his head toward Juugo. "I don't have time for your bragging." Something was very wrong here. Why wasn't Itachi—or any Akatsuki—in any kind of village? Where could they be?

Juugo's task had been to try and find any Akatsuki hideouts. "My birds told me that nothing was strange down around here, but up in the Land of Fire were strange rustlings at night. Black cloaks and red clouds, they said. Also near Suna."

_That was it._

They were going after Naruto. Of course. Why hadn't he thought of that before? Sasuke smirked slightly, standing up. "Thank you, Juugo. Follow your assigned tasks, report in a month. Till then…" He made to leave, but Karin grabbed his arm.

"What are you going to do, Sasuke?" Her eyes, for once, weren't the lovesick and obsessed variety. They were serious, concerned for Sasuke.

She should know better than to be concerned for someone like him.

He just looked at her, debating whether or not to answer. Suigetsu had paused in walking away, and Juugo was listening too. Oh well. It couldn't hurt to have them know-and be scared.

"I…will _kill _Naruto next time," were the growled words. Not one ex-Taka member moved as Sasuke disappeared in a whirl of his dark cloak.

* * *

><p>Konoha wasn't busy around this time of the year. The harvest had already gone by, and the Konoha festival too, which usually attracted tourists. In the winter, Konoha was nothing special, because the leaves of the great forests had fallen and all that was left were bare, desecrated branches.<p>

Despite having the appearance of being weaker in the winter, _this _season the Leaf shinobi were not. They were busy preparing to kill Uzumaki Naruto.

At least, most of the top, elite ninjas were.

Tsunade stood in her office, facing out the window like she'd done so many times before. Shizune stood to her side, holding Tonton in her arms. They observed the busy village in peace, neither making a sound. Villager activity was normal, the civilians just thinking it was a normal day, buying food, chatting in the streets. So did the lower ranks—the gennin, chunin. Even some jounin were leading squads out on missions, training in the fields, going to the Academy.

A slight poof of smoke appeared in front of the Hokage's desk, and it cleared to reveal a hooded ANBU figure. "Hokage-sama."

Tsunade turned. The man bowed slightly. "We're running low on the special chakra weapons. Should we send a squad to ask for more?" She nodded and the ANBU poofed back to wherever he'd come from. The blonde woman sighed, massaging her temple. She swore she could feel old age rushing up to her, as each day passed. Having Sakura, her best medical-nin, and Shikamaru, one of Konoha's main strategists, vote 'yes' had struck a chord within her. Tsunade knew it was silly and childish of her, but right now the only way she could express her frustration was to ignore them. As the rest of the Konoha 10 were doing, except a select few, such as the Yamanaka girl and Sai. She'd heard that Hinata was particularly angry against Sakura.

After the fatal meeting, she'd had no choice but to agree, especially when the Kazekage himself also chose yes. _That _had finally made her break the desk in two clean halves. And Gaara hadn't even looked nonplussed! Just sitting there, cool as a cucumber, unblinking and creepy as usual! As if he didn't care he'd just sentenced his closest friend to die!

Deep within herself, though, Tsunade knew she was being unreasonable.

Everyone's logic had made sense. Shikamaru's cold judgment from a war-point advantage (_he would be very useful in wars_), Sakura's heartfelt decision of what would be best for the boy she'd grown to care for over the years (_she would be a good mother_), and even Gaara's solemn verdict for the sake of his village (_he was already and would make an even better Kazekage for Suna, a kind of Kazekage they hadn't had in a long time_).

And if she really thought about it herself, she knew she'd go the same direction Gaara had. Tsunade remembered the promise Jiraiya had made to her so long ago, when both he and Orochimaru had come to seek her out—the first time she'd met that brat.

"_Every one of the previous Hokage risked their lives to protect the village of Konoha and all those who live here…they wanted an end to turbulent days and to see the village prosper. It was those ideals…that was the dream they fought for! I doubt that you don't understand our predecessors' feelings. But…if you should ever happen to do something that would betray the village of Konoha…" _

Tsunade remembered waiting impatiently—trying to look patient, but failing due to alcohol and the crazy bet she'd made moments before—for Jiraiya to finish.

"_**I'll personally hunt you down and kill you!"**_

The look in his eyes had been the one of someone who loved their village. Someone who would fiercely protect it, to their last breath. The way Jiraiya died…he probably preferred dying to the Paths rather than old age. Tsunade had no doubt that if she didn't protect Konoha, Jiraiya would come back from the grave just to haunt her.

So choosing to kill Naruto was the right choice.

It had to be.

Never mind the fact that Naruto was too someone who would fiercely protect Konoha, to his last breath.

Tsunade slowly unclenched her fingers from her chakra crystal and took a deep breath. No. As Hokage, she had to do what was best for her village. Duty would always be favored over feelings. Over bonds, over ties. In the ninja world, at least. Sometimes, Tsunade wondered if it'd be a better life to be a civilian. Then at least, it was safe to love without the dreadful fear that your loved ones would never come back. They'd never have to experience being told their brother had been blown to bits too small to be identifiable. They'd never have to experience seeing their lover die right before their very eyes, no matter how much they tried to save them. They'd never have to experience the excruciating pain of seeing the ones you love leave you, walk away from you.

Some unwillingly…

Some not.

And that was why she'd accepted the truth, just as Gaara, Shikamaru, and Sakura had all done before her. She didn't want any of the people she'd sworn to protect having to see their loved ones die the way she had.

Even if Naruto hadn't physically died yet, the one she'd loved, gifted with her necklace, _had_.

Tsunade hoped fervently that the choice to kill Naruto would bring peace onto Konoha.

"Shizune."

"Yes!"

"Find Sakura and send her to me. She should be back from investigating the battle site." Shizune nodded sharply and turned to leave, Tonton following close on her heels. "Tell her…tell her to prepare a medical team. We're going to need a very advanced one once we take on Naruto."

* * *

><p>Naruto's huge, disbelieving eyes told it all.<p>

"Yeah," the girl laughed uncomfortably. "Maybe it's hard to believe…" She pursed her lips. "I don't know what he was thinking, really."

Sasuke had shown up. She had known he was coming, of course, but hadn't focused enough to sense Naruto's presence too. After Sasuke had burned the black fan into the boulder and slashed the angel wings, she had pretty much stopped paying attention. It hurt too much to see him like that.

He'd unceremoniously dumped Naruto just inside the threshold before teleporting away, with just one sentence hanging in the air.

"_Count this as an apology…for five years ago."_

"He felt indebted, I guess. We Uchihas hate feeling indebted; you should know," she explained. Naruto had his bangs over his eyes, shielding them.

_Indebted… an apology for the battle at the End? _Conflicting emotions ran through him, and he shuddered before suppressing them. Ninjas didn't feel emotions. _Shinobi rule 25, eh?_

Naruto grinned suddenly, surprising the girl across from him. "So all the odds are against me, aren't they? Akatsuki is coming, I knew that. And no doubt Sasuke will redouble his efforts to kill me now that he knows Itachi is after me." He stretched, getting ready to get up.

_**She said something about Konoha too…**_

He froze.

Konoha.

What?

The Kyuubi supplied the memories for him none-too-gently. _**Konoha is preparing to kill you. That's what she said, you forgetful idiot.**_

"Konoha…" The word slipped past his lips. The girl cocked her head, raven hair falling gracefully along her shoulder.

"Yes. Didn't you know? They—and Suna—have reached an agreement. 'Hunt' Uzumaki Naruto."

"No…" When had they done this? Definitely not when he'd visited Konoha. After. Sometime during the fight between Sasuke and him, till now. "When?"

"Two days ago they held the meeting to decide. Coincidentally it was on the same night of your battle." She didn't seem to have any problem parting information, and he could faintly hear the Kyuubi wondering if it was because she _wanted _something to happen… Something with all the odds against him. But most of Naruto's mind was focused on something else.

Two days ago. Naruto remembered faintly smelling what he thought was blood, but with a more earthy flavor to it. He should've known it was Gaara's scent. _On their way to the old hag. And I guess Tsunade lost._

Naruto couldn't help but feel a terrible sense of betrayal. His old teammates, hunting him down? Was this how far he'd gone? Did he mean nothing left?

_You are nothing._

_Nothing at all._

Shut up! That voice was back…the one from the dream he'd had earlier.

_You've always been alone…_

Numbness spread through Naruto's body as he registered what the girl was saying.

"You know what's kinda ironically funny? It seems only the Konoha 10, the emotionless one you call Sai, and the Council remember who you are. All the villagers have long forgotten. They don't even seem to remember a jinchuuriki ever existed…" She had cupped her chin contemplatively, not seeming to notice the havoc she'd set on Naruto.

_Forgotten…_

_Have I led a worthless existence?_

_All alone…_

So. This was how things all boiled down to in the end. A dark organization chasing him for the demon he hosted. His best friend wanting to kill him to get his revenge on his brother. The only home he'd ever known wanting to _destroy _him. The only home he'd ever known forgetting completely about him.

A bitter thought raced through Naruto's mind.

_Even after all I did for you, this is how you repay me… By forgetting me._

Naruto sprang to his feet, snatching on the cloak that had been neatly folded beside his temporary bed. He stared, puzzled, down at the white hand clenched around his wrist. "Naruto…"

"I'm sorry, but I have to go. I…I can't stay in here any longer."

The girl nodded, as if she'd expected this outcome all along. "I knew it. Naruto, will you keep your promise? Kill Sasuke's dark side, kill me. And once that happens, he'll be blank. Like a canvas, unpainted and ready to be covered with new colors. Once that happens…convince him he belongs in Konoha. We—he'll be easy to confuse, so don't let him fall in the hands of someone like Madara. Promise, Naruto?"

He nodded distractedly, scanning the room for any sign of an exit. The only thing he could see, so far, was a large boulder straight to the left. "I promise. I'll force Sasuke to go back." Something occurred to him, and he looked at the girl. "I'll see you again, right… We need to give you a new name. I can't just call you Sasuke." The girl blinked. _**Nakami? **_the fox suggested languidly, his next words completely at odds with his relaxed tone of voice. _**Hurry up so we can leave already. **_

'And get revenge on Konoha' was his unspoken statement.

On better days, Naruto probably would've just rolled his eyes and blown the demon off. Today wasn't a better day, but he still put on a happier voice, knowing that the girl wouldn't like it. "I got it! Nakami! _Inner beauty. _Kind of sarcastic, isn't it? You're Sasuke from Sasuke's soul, and you're the better side. Nakami."

"Nakami," she replied, trying out her name on her tongue...choosing to ignore Naruto's fake attitude. "Nakami. That sounds… pretty. I can see why everyone insists you have a power, Uzumaki Naruto. And yes, we will meet again. Once Sasuke is close to achieving his goal, you'll meet me again." Naruto nodded again. Something in him was itching to run, run—not _away _from all this…but towards the trouble.

_The hunt is the best part._

The newly dubbed Nakami stepped quickly over the boulder and performed a hand sign so fast Naruto couldn't see it, placing her hand on the boulder. With not even a rumble, it moved to the side, revealing a dark, dank earth tunnel. "Go along this, Naruto, until you get to the end. There's a steel door, bolted shut…" Nakami closed her eyes before flashing them open to reveal the red Sharingan. Her eyes remained unfocused until she reverted them back to the glowing black. "Nobody's around. We're in the Land of Water. I trust you know how to get back from there…?"

"Thanks, Nakami." Naruto faltered, seeming indecisive for a moment. "Never mind. I guess…bye for now!" He grinned for a second and disappeared into the darkness. Nakami stared after him.

_You were going to ask, why did I tell you, weren't you? _

_Why don't I want you or Sasuke hurt? _

She heard the groan of metal as it was blasted apart.

_I guess it's because…_

_I've seen too much of your life Naruto. I know how it feels to be lonely. I know what it's like to be Sasuke. And I know how easily you could've become like Sasuke, and Sasuke like you (2), and how easily you could've become friends. So I guess the reason I don't want either of you hurt is because I blame myself. If only I'd tried harder, Sasuke might've stayed. If only…_

_You two have suffered too much already. It's my turn now._

* * *

><p>Ringed purple eyes glowed out of the dark.<p>

"It's almost time."

The blue-haired kunoichi raised her head, golden eyes gleaming as she let thousands of paper butterflies fly from her hands. Each one was folded from explosive tags, and they flapped in an eerily beautiful harmony toward the walls of Suna.

"I wonder if the Kazekage is strong enough to protect his village this time," Konan murmured as she watch her creations flutter away, deceptively pretty. The Deva Path, Tendo, stood next to her. She wished Nagato was there too, in physical form, healthy and strong. That way…that way, she could pretend for just a little while that Yahiko wasn't some twisted half-alive half-dead version of himself. That Nagato wasn't too skinny and wasted away.

That everything was just like it was, with Jiraiya-sensei.

But that wasn't the way an Akatsuki member should think, so Konan banished those wistful _hopes _from her head. Hope had no place in the darkness that the Akatsuki brought. It was too light, too happy for an organization whose name meant 'dawn' but purpose meant _death._

Or, if you chose to put it the Akatsuki way: peace.

"The former one-tail, eh… This will be his price for surviving, when none of the others did." The familiar orange mask appeared from behind them. One arm of his Akatsuki robe was flat. That was the one that Naruto had torn off, making jutsus a real pain. _I bet the demon fox would be displeased to know I can still see…perfectly fine, _Madara chuckled darkly to himself. In fact, he'd been meaning to have both his eyes transplanted for a while. Naruto just gave him the perfect opportunity.

Instead of both his eyes being blind, Madara could see completely clearly for the first time in many years. (3)

A green plant-shape emerged from the ground, opening to reveal a _creature _with half his side black, the other half white. "Gaara has returned," the black side informed Madara.

"They're completely defenseless!" the white half of Zetsu laughed gleefully. "Fools!"

"We're almost ready," Madara murmured. "Just a little more time…"

Black ravens flocked together in front of what was left of the Akatsuki, forming the figure of Itachi. His eyes were in the Sharingan state, as always. "The Nine-Tails is coming."

"Fantastic. And your dear brother is joining us soon too, Itachi." Itachi didn't show any emotion at this. "Everyone's coming together." In the two eye holes of his new mask, red eyes shimmered with amusement.

"I've waited a very long time for this moment—when the shinobi world will be _mine._"

* * *

><p><strong>I have a lot of these this time, huh. (the one two three)<strong>

**(1) if any of you have seen/read the anime/manga up the point where Karin says she's no longer in love with Sasuke, then my Karin in here is still infatuated..**

**(2) I kinda took that from the Naruto chapter that I'm too lazy to find. The one where Naruto and Sasuke meet again in shippuden, the second time**

**(3) **_**SPOILER!**_ **One of Madara's eyes was blind from Izanagi or something - the jutsu that Danzou kept using during the battle with Sasuke. Madara has this huuuge stash of Sharingan eyes, and once Naruto blinded him, he just put different eyes in… CHEATER! **

**Kumo=Cloud village. Kiri=water. Oh and I never mentioned why they met in Kiri did I…it was because Suigetsu wanted to try and get some more swords, and badgered Sasuke into letting the ex-team meet in Kiri. The reason they still share info with Sasuke, despite being disbanded, is because, well, Sasuke forced them to.**

**Also, I have fixed the anonymous review thing. I didn't know before until I wondered if it'd work if I tried to leave a review (I wasn't actually **_**going **_**to, I swear!) without being signed in. Well? It didn't work so well. So I turned it on. YAY! (That sounded weird…) On the review note, I would be verrry happy if you left one. **

**I'm sorry, but my next update could take a little bit longer, since my family is going to be taking care of a dog for a week! (exclamation mark x10) I haven't ever had a dog before, okay, so this is MAJOR NEWS! I already started taking care of the dog though, so my update should come just a little late next time. Share my joy! Have a chocolate! Ehehehe…you probably hate me though… '-.- But see, I have another long chappie this time!**

**So see ya next time!**

**TBC!**


	8. Chapter Seven

**A/N: Holaz folks.**

**This time the A/N will be short, because I don't think you're impatient, but anyway. In case you are, it's short. TADA! :P And as I promised… Thanks (here goes the list of names) Kilei, Keiren-Kun89, grembari, DeathWithAKiss, cruorem. Also, everyone who reads this gets a free virtual cookie (I'm cheap, okay?) because it's a ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY SINCE I BEGAN THIS! YAY! ^-^ Celebration!**

**Okay I just remembered something. You all **_**do **_**know that the Naruto movie Blood Prison came out YESTERDAY, right?.! I wanna watch it sooo bad. The only problem is… I can't understand Japanese, A, so even if someone did upload it, I wouldn't understand anything. B, it takes people like half a year to sub it. Which is unfortunate for us who can't understand Japanese. SO OH NO! =.= See why I want to learn Japanese? (Hint, see chapter two)**

**Warning: (okay, this a/n isn't so short anymore…) Uh this chapter has a lot of scene breaks. I don't know what you can do about it, but just saying. Okay. And it is **_**hard **_**to write in Naruto's POV!**

**Ehehehe… Disclaimer: Naruto won't be mine. Ever. Maybe.**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Seven<strong>

_All children have to be deceived if they are to grow up without trauma. _–Kazuo Ishiguro

_Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, something is out of tune. _–Carl Jung

Naruto was still numb.

Oh, he could feel the sharp wind stinging his face well enough, and the water—he missed the trees—reforming below his chakra-feet as he ran on it. _Splish, splash, _were his footsteps. He didn't bother concealing the sound or his tracks.

Right now, Naruto wanted to fight.

It would be a pleasure to fight someone.

Other than the bloodthirsty need to punch someone—he could feel the rage running copper over his tongue—that was it. Konoha's betrayal was near, yet far. He _knew _it had happened, yet it hadn't at the same time.

Or, more to say, it had happened to another person.

It didn't feel like Konoha had so much as betrayed Naruto as much as any other villager or ninja of the Leaf. Maybe…maybe this was how it felt? To become the ultimate killer. Yes, this must be it. This must be how Sasuke and Itachi felt, killing thousands without a bat of an eyelash.

This _incredibly good _feeling.

When Naruto said he was 'still numb', he meant numb on the inside. It was a heady feeling, he supposed, not unlike the time two days ago when Sasuke had shoved another hand into chest. Floating. It left a lot of room to think, but he wasn't so sure that was a good thing.

Naruto's feet were carrying him somewhere, on autopilot. _**Toward Konoha,**_ the Kyuubi supplied gleefully. The fox had been talking a lot this past hour. If Naruto was perfectly sane and had a clear head, he might've noticed the dark malicious threat not even the demon could keep hidden from leaking into Naruto's mind. If Naruto was perfectly sane and had a clear head, he would've noticed that the taste in his mouth wasn't entirely rage. If Naruto was perfectly sane and had a clear head, he probably wouldn't be _in _this mess right now.

And where would the fun be then?

A couple days later, he found himself crossing the Land of Fire's border. He'd only taken three breaks the entire time, and the Kyuubi was supplying his stamina. _**Rest soon, brat, **_the Nine-Tails urged, _**You don't want to be tired when you go destroy Konoha. **_

_Who said I was going to destroy Konoha? _Naruto retorted.

Few surprised the demon, but Naruto somehow always did.

_**Why wouldn't you?.! They betrayed you!**_

_You wouldn't understand anything about promises. Then again, I've collected too many over the years… _Naruto narrowly avoided falling into the empty void called musing again. _The point is, I can't destroy Konoha just yet._

He could feel the fox's triumphant smirk.

_**Not yet…**_ The Kyuubi murmured to himself in satisfaction.

_So just stay patient a little longer, eh? _Naruto leaped onto the tree branch. _I've got some dirty, er, _business _to take care of first. Mainly, dispatching the Akatsuki._

_**If you want to do that, there's a perfect plan, **_the Nine-Tails suggested. _**In fact, they're in Suna right now. All that's left. **_

_No way!_

_**Why don't we go check it out then? And maybe, if they **_**are **_**there, you'll let me have a treat… Let me out of this cage!**_

_Maybe… _

Naruto abruptly changed direction, heading straight left instead of forward. After days of traveling, his muscles hadn't become sore, but he still wanted to fight. Fight. Rage. Battle. Spill blood. _See _the Akatsuki's blood stain the ground.

Sometimes, Naruto wondered if he was going slightly insane too.

He barely noticed as he landed in a meadow and ran across it. Just another meadow.

He didn't stop when Sasuke ran right past him, in the opposite direction.

He went straight on to Suna.

* * *

><p>Sasuke didn't slow as he ran past Naruto, eyes widening just a fraction to show his surprise. <em>Naruto? Again? In less than a week? <em>

The moment passed, the moment where both their eyes connected for just a second—and then they both raced on, each going different ways. It didn't matter. He'd get the truth from his little _conscience _sharer when he reached her.

He had to kill Naruto, but there were just some things he had to do before.

* * *

><p>(<span>Two days ago)<span>

Five dark cloaked ninjas stood outside the broken walls of Suna. It looked frighteningly similar to what Konoha had looked like, after Pein's attack.

Gaara had put up a good fight. It was the best one in a while. In the end, though, even Gaara couldn't match what was possibly the two most accomplished shinobi in the world—the Uchihas. Itachi and Madara had fought Gaara, while Konan and the Paths and Zetsu took care of the village. They hadn't gotten much information, which was a downfall, but they hadn't killed much either. It was nothing like Konoha's statistics of death.

"They should be able to rebuild in a few days," the Deva Path intoned. "Then, we can attack again."

Konan glanced at Madara, who didn't look tired at all. Even she had a few scratched on her. Something about the eldest Uchiha always disturbed her. Maybe his dark and mysterious aura, or his scarily accurate Sharingans. Konan didn't trust him, but she had to follow his orders.

"May I be excused? I have to go check on Nagato," she told Madara, golden eyes glinting. She would leave even if he said no.

Madara just waved a hand, and Konan disappeared in a flutter of white paper. Zetsu grinned. "Can we eat now?" the white half asked.

"Try not to make too much of a mess," Madara said absently. Zetsu grinned and slithered back into the ground.

Pein stared—as always, emotionlessly—at the half destroyed Suna. They hadn't killed anyone major, just maybe a fourth of the villagers and a third of the fighting force. The Akatsuki still wanted to play a little; besides, they hadn't gotten the information they needed. Madara had called retreat before any of the six Paths or Konan could get close: they were invariably the best at torture. Of course, Madara had his countless Mangekyou Sharingans, but Gaara was careful.

The former one-tail was actually pretty strong. His sand performed to his every will, and while sometimes the attacks were cumbersome—like his giant sand hand—and not very accurate, if you were caught in it… you'd die. That simple.

His weaknesses were water and the fact that he could only do long range attacks. Gaara could defend himself perfectly well, short-range or long-range, and he'd done some training with taijutsu and weapons, but his strength was still his sand.

Itachi was also standing, by Pein, away from Madara. It wasn't a well-known fact, but Pein, Nagato, had picked up on the fact a few months ago. Uchiha Itachi didn't like Uchiha Madara. That was simple enough, despite the fact that Madara had helped him destroy the Uchiha clan. Beyond that, Pein didn't know any more about Itachi's history, or even why Itachi disliked his _sempai _so much.

While Pein was the 'figure leader' of the Akatsuki, and Madara was the true leader behind the scenes, if Itachi knew Madara's secrets... Pein had no doubt that Itachi could lead the Akatsuki.

Itachi was a true genius, in every way of the word.

The said Uchiha spoke. "Three days, then. Three days for Suna to recover before we attack again."

Pein nodded, turning on his heel. "We're going back to camp. You can come back now, Konan." In a few seconds, paper formed to reveal the figure of the only kunoichi in the Akatsuki, inclining her head gracefully.

"Pein-sama," she murmured.

Madara laughed.

"I wonder… I wonder if they'll be prepared for us next time. Will they know that we're coming back?" The four shinobi began to trek back into the endless expanse of desert. "I hope they do. I want a better fight next time. Besides, we have _guests _coming…

"We need to prepare a warm welcome for Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."

* * *

><p><em>(flashback of the fight)<em>

Gaara stood at the window, an odd sense of déjà vu running through him. This was where he stood, five days ago, where he received that scroll. The scroll that had made him choose his village over his friend.

It hurt. It still hurt, that wound in his heart that wouldn't heal. Hadn't Yashamura, so long ago, said something to him about that? About how only love can heal the wounds in your heart… A past Gaara might have then gone on about how no one had ever loved Gaara, but now, he knew that wasn't true.

Gaara had changed, over the years.

He was in the past, reminiscing, when the first paper bomb hit the walls.

The Kazekage wouldn't have felt it, normally, if he hadn't had his special sand coat a thin layer over the stair-step walls of the village. After the meeting with Tsunade—she had looked unbelievably hurt, that that lazy shinobi and the pink one, and himself, had chosen against her (_but he didn't really know her, so it was okay_, was what he told himself)—Gaara had immediately put up a sand barrier around the village. Akatsuki wouldn't wait, and he knew that logically their first target would be Suna. Sometimes, he despaired for Naruto's stupidity.

The force of one paper bomb wasn't enough to crack Suna's defense. Exactly because of this threat, he'd had all the villagers removed to safer quarters and no shinobi guards posted.

"Gaara!" Kankuro ran in, his puppet scrolls already strapped to his back. Over the years, his brother had only grown in skill. "They've sighted _butterflies _flying toward us! A couple have already hit, in fact. They seem like…explosives?" The last was a question as Gaara swept past him.

"Get our forces ready!" Kankuro shouted, realizing that Gaara wouldn't stop for anything now that his _precious village _was being attacked. Temari ran up, hand on her fans. "Are all the villagers in? Are you sure, Temari?"

"Yes! Gennin squads are ordered not to move until they have to. We don't want to lose too many…" Temari's face looked strained. "Why? Why the Akatsuki?" she muttered.

Kankuro laid a hand on his sister's shoulder for a second before running toward the roof. "Lead the jounins out, Tem! We have to protect Suna, and because we're protecting the thing we love, we _can't _lose!"

Gaara didn't run, but he walked quicker than he normally would've in a normal attack. He was worried. Those butterflies Kankuro talked about, he could feel them with his sand. As ridiculous as the concept sounded, they were lethal. He knew the particular Akatsuki member could do obscene stuff with paper—she went by the name of Konan—such as mummifying people and folding weapons out of origami. These butterflies were indeed folded from explosive tags.

He suspected this was only a diversion. The real attack was for later.

_But why?_

They should know that Naruto wasn't in Suna, that Naruto wasn't anywhere _near _Suna. The Fifth had sent another note a couple days after he'd gotten back from the meeting. While the tone was cold and formal, the message had sent a ring of shock through him.

Naruto and Sasuke had fought the night of the meeting.

Apparently, a devastating battle too, and the one piece that he found most curious was the part where she'd written:

_Haruno__ reports a boulder with two marks on it. One black fan, another dark blue angel wings—the sign of Naruto. The other is obviously Uchiha. The problem is the fact that the angel wings are crossed out._

Gaara knew that Naruto couldn't be dead, and he also knew that Tsunade would know that too. There was no way Naruto could lost against Sasuke unless he _let _himself lose, or Sasuke wasn't at full power.

The two were simply too evenly matched.

Gaara held high esteem for Naruto, and could even possibly see himself _forgiving _the foolish missing-nin in the future (_when Naruto was dead_) but he had no qualms about not forgiving Sasuke. He wouldn't call this emotion hate, exactly. Sasuke didn't deserve that from someone he only knew as a monster who tried to kill him. However, Sasuke wasn't pardoned either. The Uchiha was an arrogant brat who only cared about revenge, from what he'd heard—still, Itachi was alive, so how strong could the younger Uchiha be? But that didn't really mean anything, since Itachi was one of the strongest shinobi there were, reasoned most people. Gaara thought differently.

Even if Naruto had exiled himself, sentenced himself to the darkness in the shadows of the leaves, Gaara didn't believe he was _alone. _The Kyuubi didn't count as company either. Sooner or later, Naruto would end up finding someone he could be with. Naruto was like that. He couldn't _be _alone, so he would never be at his full strength fighting on loneliness.

Naruto would always be stronger if he had someone to protect.

But he wouldn't listen even if Gaara tried to tell him that. Gaara knew how twisted and persuasive demons could be sometimes.

Sasuke, on the other hand…

Sasuke was one of the ninja who were truly alone, the way Gaara was before, shut off and closed to anyone. A merciless killer, who felt the only way to be alive was to slaughter. Sasuke thrived off the power of pain, the same way Naruto lived for protecting. Even now—he was protecting Konoha. 'Protecting.' And Gaara couldn't really respect anyone who lived for getting their power from solitude.

Not anymore, not now that he knew how good it felt to have people love him.

Gaara didn't miss Shukaku. He was a bother, never letting him sleep. Old habits died hard, though, and to this day Gaara still had insomnia circles around his eyes. After all, Shukaku had never really tried to understand Gaara. He only wanted release to rampage, and sometimes Gaara would give him that. But how would Naruto feel about losing the Kyuubi?

Naruto always _did _rely a little too much on the fox's power, despite how strong he was without it.

Could he survive without the fox?

_If _he didn't die during the extraction?

...

Which was impossible. Unless someone loved Naruto enough that they'd sacrifice themselves to save him. Maybe then…

He couldn't afford to lose time thinking about things such as Naruto and Sasuke now though. He had his village to defend as Kazekage, and he couldn't let them down. Right away Gaara knew there'd be casualties, but that was unavoidable in war. War.

_Was this war?_

_Or just what the Akatsuki thinks will be mass murder?_

Gaara set off to what might have been his death, but he welcomed it as he was dying _for _his village and not against it.

A day later.

Gaara was tired. Really tired, as in not since the fight with Naruto tired. All in all, he'd managed to take down two Paths—and not the particularly important ones either, only the summoning one and that metal one—and a bunch of white Zetsu clones. The real one was around somewhere, no doubt wrecking havoc too. That was when he still had a lot of chakra. That was before Itachi and Madara got to him.

Kankuro was holding his own, currently still fighting the soul-sucking path. Suna didn't have a lot of information on the Akatsuki…actually, they did, but Kankuro just didn't bother to study up on them. 'Soul-sucking path' and 'the-force path' were enough for him. The soul-sucker didn't really have much effect on his puppets, but they drained his chakra as he was forced to keep them dancing around the Path. It was annoying. And that was _before _the creepy aloe (1) plant guy with the split personalities came.

Temari was assisting a couple ANBU squads when the paper blizzard set down onto them. It wasn't much of a battle between the flimsy papers and her fan. But it'd only been a diversion, as she found out when the last of the papers cleared to reveal the Preta Path (Temari had actually learned the names) and both the Deva Path and Naraka Path, along with Konan. At the sight of the ninjas and Temari, the Deva Path and the blue-haired woman disappeared. One part of Temari's mind took note of Konan's distraction—_she seems to be good for interrogating and diversions_—while the other fought on autopilot, unleashing a magnificent gust of wind that blew the Preta Path back a few feet. The Naraka Path wasn't so easily swept away, and had disappeared for the time being. "Don't let him get away!" Temari shouted. So Kankuro was fighting the Human Path, the last she'd seen him, and Gaara had destroyed the Animal and Asura Paths. She had been handling the Preta Path pretty well, considering that she didn't use chakra very much, until one of the ANBU screamed behind her. _What? Oh no, they must've summoned the Outer Path. Dammit, I can't see it! I don't know what I'm fighting against…no wait. The ANBU that screamed… _She whipped her head around, leaving another squad to fight the Preta Path, and spotted the ANBU standing, frozen in terror, staring at nothing. _Gotcha now! _

"So this is where the villagers are," Konan remarked as she put a hand out. Her paper bird fluttered back onto the pale fingers.

"Madara said not to kill them all, but some…" Tendo said from beside her, staring wordlessly up. "The Animal and Asura Paths have already been killed. The Human Path will probably retreat later, to get information from the Council. The Preta and Naraka Paths should handle the battle with the higher shinobi easily. That leaves us…"

Black Zetsu crawled his way out of the sand wall in front of them. "They're in there," he told them. He quickly got out of the way as Tendo prepared to use his Almighty Push. "Farther in, children down to the right tunnel, older people straight ahead. I'll be going then… I have to record Gaara's fight anyway." Black Zetsu disappeared again as the sand wall crumpled under the gravity force.

White Zetsu grinned at Kankuro. "Hey, paint-face!" Kankuro groaned mentally while sending one of his puppets clacking toward Zetsu. He dodged easily. "What? Why so hostile? It's not like this is a _war _or anything." Kankuro ground his teeth together, momentarily forgetting about the soul-sucker. When he remembered in a panic, it was gone already. _Dammit, _he cursed. Oh well. Might as well take out Zetsu first and then go find the Path before it did too much damage.

The ANBU squads Temari had been fighting with had been decimated by half before she called 'retreat'. The Paths didn't try to stop them. "They've suddenly grown stronger," Temari panted. "Half a day ago, they weren't so intense." _Or maybe they've just been hiding their real powers… _"We have to go to the hospital! I don't know if they've destroyed that yet, but we need to check at least and help any survivors…" They took off, completely unmindful of the battle between the Uchihas and Gaara just a few hundred feet away.

"So, if it isn't the former Shukaku-vessel," Itachi said slowly. His eyes were red and spinning.

"He doesn't look very strong anymore at all," Madara replied cheerfully, skillfully mastering the personality of 'Tobi' once more. "Tobi could beat him, even!" Itachi glanced for just a second at his companion. What was the Uchiha's strategy here? How would _'Tobi' _help? It felt eerily familiar fighting alongside Madara, even as the older Uchiha disgusted him.

Gaara panted heavily, once passionless cold eyes lit by an instinct to protect his village. You could never find the words for Gaara's eyes, the way you could never find the words for Naruto's blue ones. Were Gaara's eyes green? Turquoise? Flat? Yes, flat, but there was something hidden in them. "I won't let you destroy my village!"

"Your village? Being possessive are we?" Madara laughed, walking up fearlessly. "Just because you have the title of 'Kazekage' doesn't mean anything. Tobi could be the leader and that wouldn't mean the Akatsuki was his."

Itachi sent a warning glance at Madara. His chakra wasn't running low, or Madara's, but they needed to wrap this up before _they _arrived. It wouldn't be too good if Sasuke tried to attack Itachi right now, or if Naruto blasted into the scene to save his _'friend'._

Gaara focused his gaze on Itachi. He didn't know who this other person was—Tobi, he assumed, as he was talking in third person—but Itachi was obviously the main threat. If only he'd seen the two Sharingans in the orange mask…

His sand still stirred to his every call, blocking Itachi's fireball, the kunai from the other Itachi clone, and even blocking him from Itachi's eyes. If you really thought about it, Gaara was the perfect candidate to take on Itachi—if he was a thousand times stronger. Because Gaara's sand prevented Itachi from activating the Tsukuyomi on him, and the sand also prevented Itachi from reaching him. There was no way Gaara could fall under the geniuses.

But that didn't make him invulnerable. The Amaterasu didn't have an effect either, because Gaara could just throw away the pieces of sand that caught on fire. (Out of all the living Akatsuki, Itachi was probably the one that Suna knew most about, courtesy of Konoha.) That still left Gaara vulnerable, though. In the seconds his sand couldn't reach him, Tobi (if that silly-brained ninja even knew anything) could attack, or Itachi himself.

Although if Itachi chose to use Susanoo…

If Itachi used his full power, nobody stood a chance. If Itachi wanted to, he could lead the Akatsuki. If Itachi wanted to, he could destroy Konoha and Suna effortlessly. He could destroy the world.

But even the mighty have an Achilles' heel. If only the ninja world knew what it was.

All this went through Gaara's head in a matter of seconds, quick and fast while Itachi performed a deadly dance of dangerous jutsu and quick taijutsu. Each move was calculated so that Gaara's defenses were slowly weakening. Tobi just stood there watching.

Gaara clenched his teeth. _I have something precious to protect… My village! _With that, he flung both his arms to the side and sand poured out from the cracks in the ground, instantly flooding the spaces around him, catching Itachi in it. (Tobi, coincidentally, was nowhere to be seen.) "Sand Waterfall Funeral!" The sand condensed, with one hand still sticking out. Gaara should've immediately knew something was wrong when he felt no bones being crushed, but his attention was on Tobi.

The Akatsuki member had spiraled out of nowhere. Literally. It was like he'd—warped or something. Gaara had one chance for his eyes to widen before Tobi punched him in the stomach. He'd gone straight past the sand.

Gaara's eyes widened as he coughed instinctively. He could feel cracks spreading through his sand shield.

It only got worse from there.

While Tobi distracted him—his sand just wasn't fast enough—Itachi appeared again. _"Amaterasu!" _Black flames spread along Gaara's sand, and he was forced to discard it to avoid being burned to ashes. Tobi grinned.

"Not so tough are ya? You can't even take on _me_," he taunted. More sand reached up from the ground to close in a clawed hand around the black-cloaked Akatsuki member; the sand closed straight through Tobi, and he vaulted backwards to land beside Itachi. "Sabaku no Gaara, eh… I'd say. You aren't that strong at all without Shukaku, are you?"

Kankuro had somehow gotten rid of Zetsu, only to realize it was _another freaking clone. _How many did that thing have up its sleeve anyway? He ran along the rooftops. Surprisingly, the Akatsuki had avoided the buildings. They seemed to be mostly going toward… _the people! _God! The civilians...they wouldn't. They wouldn't hurt harmless people, would they? Were they so heartless?

Well. This is the Akatsuki.

He caught a familiar chakra signature approaching. "Temari!" His sister stopped, clothes ripped but fan still protruding from her back. "I'm worried…go check at the place where the villagers are. I don't know…" Temari's eyes widened too and she nodded quickly before waving at the ANBU team behind her. "And now…I need to find Gaara…"

Two hours later.

Kankuro had gotten too delayed. Zetsus popped up out of nowhere; he had to help random ninjas; all the while keeping an eye on the cloud of sand spiraling up in the distance. _Gaara…_

The Deva Path stared emotionlessly at the bodies of the children before him. The foolish adults—chunin, some gennin—trying to stop them had stood no chance. A simple Almighty Push had killed half of their number; Konan's paper mummy jutsu had killed another fourth. The Human Path stood next to him, one last lingering soul in his hand. A flick of the wrist later, the soul disappeared and the body of a woman slumped to the ground.

"Any more?" Pein asked Konan. She closed her eyes for a second—communicating with the clone back with Nagato.

"This is only a sixth. We want at least a fourth, to show that we are still at large and unstoppable." The two Paths beside her nodded and they jumped off, moving at quick speeds that most couldn't see.

"Stop!" A female's voice rang through the cavern. The Human Path stopped, but the Deva Path and Konan vaulted over the ninjas' heads and disappeared farther down the tunnel. Automatically, half the ANBU squads turned and chased after them. Temari grabbed her fan and slammed it into the ground. "You aren't going any further, Pein." The Path stared at her wordlessly before raising both his hands out. "Attack!"

Zetsu laughed as he watched yet another shinobi fall to the ground. _I love my spores, _he thought. Suddenly, a black Zetsu clone crawled up beside him. "Go join me at Gaara's fight…" it said. "We are getting ready to retreat soon. Pein should be calling back his Paths any time now." White Zetsu grinned before closing up his plant-leaves around him like a bud, sinking into the ground once more.

Tobi was strong, Gaara knew. If it wasn't for his obvious stupidity, he could've been stronger than Itachi. Even without an arm, Tobi was powerful. But Gaara wasn't weak either. He had been holding his own for the entire time, but his chakra was beginning to run out. Fueling his special sand took energy from him, and fighting two elite Akatsuki members wasn't easy. He could sense another presence around him; it wasn't very strong, and as long as it stayed out of the fight, Gaara didn't care.

All of a sudden, both Akatsuki members stopped in their attacks, Itachi's hands still poised in the hand sign—_he was making a jutsu? So fast…I couldn't even see the seals!—_and Tobi crouched on the ground, ready to spring. Another presence had joined the other one when he hadn't been paying attention. Both sides of the plant-creature—Zetsu.

Without a warning or explanation, Itachi vanished, disappearing without a sound. Tobi laughed. "I guess this is over for you, former One-tail. Be grateful… Tobi had lots more energy to fight you with! Ja, _Gaaaaa-ra!_" The air around the spiky-haired Akatsuki swirled and he seemed to be sucked into it. Zetsu had already departed. Gaara was confused and tired. _Were the Akatsuki retreating? What? _

Kankuro leaped to where Gaara was. "Gaara! Are you okay?"

The Kazekage nodded, closing his eyes for a brief second. "They were strong…" he murmured. Kankuro looked worriedly at the direction where dark cloaks were fading into the distance. "They seem to be retreating."

The puppeteer helped his brother prop himself up. "Don't waste too much energy talking, Gaara. I'll get a medic. You're exhausted." He made to get up and move, and saw Temari running toward them. "Temari! Get a medic! Anything!" She didn't stop moving.

"It's terrible," she panted. "All of the ANBU squads with me are dead. I barely made it out, and only because my winds kept the Path at bay and that they retreated unexpectedly at the last second." Gaara's eyes flickered to his older sister. "Gaara! I…There's worse news though." Her voice lowered, and her teal eyes saddened. "A fourth of the civilians were killed. I don't know how much of our shinobi died too, but I'm guessing a lot. Why, Gaara? Why the sudden attack? They knew Naruto wasn't here. Why?"

Gaara closed his eyes again, watching the darkness creep into the edges of his closed vision, and summoned the last of his strength to speak. "They…wanted to teach… a lesson. Naruto will be here…he can't stay away...not after this...And the Akatsuki...know it...So..." His words trailed off before his eyes sprang open, the green jarring against the black circles.

"The Akatsuki will be back."

* * *

><p>Sakura stood in front of the Fifth Hokage, hands behind her back. Ino stood next to her, Shikamaru beside her. "Yes, Tsunade-sensei? Why have you summoned us?" Tsunade was no longer angry at any of them. She had understood what the only way to protect her village was.<p>

Tsunade stared at the three in front of her, hands clasped under her chin. "Shikamaru. Ino. Sakura. There's been…an attack, you could say. We need to halt preparations for Operation: Hunt Uzumaki Naruto." She could still never say that without a wince, hurt filling her eyes. "So, Shikamaru, stop the planning, Ino and Sakura, keep gathering medical teams. We must go assist Suna, as they are our strongest ally." Tsunade rose to get some files, but Ino interrupted.

"Hokage-sama…excuse my interruption, but who attacked?"

The Fifth Hokage closed her eyes and turned away. For a dreadful moment, Sakura thought she was going to say _Naruto. _Her heart jumped into her throat before Tsunade's voice brought words that weren't much better.

"_The Akatsuki."_

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Naruto called Zetsu 'aloe', remember? That was funny …<strong>

**Sooo…T_T How was it? I told you it skipped around a lot, especially in the fight scene with Suna and Akatsuki. I hope you still understood what was going on… ^-^;; I didn't elaborate on the Itachi/Madara/Gaara fight, because …it's hard. Gaara has his sand, basically, and Itachi is way powerful, and Madara's abilities are just unknown. Yeah. If you can believe it, there was even more to this chapter! But it got too long so I added it in the next. Wow. The Suna attack took a long time.**

**I would appreciate it deeply if you left a review. And I'd reply! If you, you know, aren't anonymous. But anyway, if any new readers find something in my previous chapters that I missed, like a loose end (I do that a lot) or something they don't get, I'll be happy to take note of that and eventually tie it up later, because I sometimes forget… '-.- Sad, I know. So this will be short (kinda) too. That concludes Chapter 7…stay tuned for chapter 8! **

****BREAK** if no one wants to read this, okay, but I got another recommendation… Naruto Abridged. It's a parody of the actual Naruto series, condensed into about like … way less episodes. It's awesome, and SUPER FUNNY! If you thought Naruto was funny, this will crack you up. Okay. Done now. Go back to whatever you're doing…**END****

**TBC!**


	9. Chapter Eight

**A/N: Hey peeps!**

**So I realized I got the date wrong for the movie thing. It comes out **_**next **_**(or this) month, the 30. 7/30/11. Ehehehe…sorry. :/ How was everyone's fourth of July? (In America, at least) Very busy for me. At least I still got this out on time, right? :D Oh and Shizune should've died…but you know what! She's cool too so she's not dead! (And Choza, Choji's dad, didn't die either. It's been a long time since I've watched/read that part. Oh well!) Haha, I found this quote on someone's profile. '****You know your obsessed with Naruto when you add every word that has to do with Naruto to your computer dictionary because your tired of it telling you your spelling the awesomeness wrong.' So true. Add it if it applies to you as well! Lol :) **

**Warning: This chapter kinda skips around too. Again, what can you do about it? :P Wow, this is the second longest chapter...**

**Disclaimer: In my dreams.**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Eight<strong>

_To have value in the heart of another. To value another in your heart. Is that not what it means to be human? _–Anonymous

_I mean after all the things we've been through/I mean after all the things we got into/Hey yo, I know some things that you ain't told me/Hey yo, I did some things but that's the old me. And now you wanna get me back and you gon' show me/So you walk around like you don't know me/You got a new friend, well I got homies/But in the end it's still so lonely. _–Heartless, Kanye West

Sakura's eyes shot open again wide (when had she closed them?). "Akatsuki?.!"

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. He hated the Akatsuki—they'd taken too much from them. Asuma, Naruto, Choji's dad, everyone who'd been killed in the attack. Even the genius Hatake Kakashi. "Why?"

"I don't know," Tsunade answered, weariness showing in her tone. "I only got a message ten minutes ago. From Temari. It seems that Gaara was attacked by Uchiha Itachi and one who calls himself _Tobi._ A lot of the Suna population has been killed, and Gaara is convinced they will attack again—"

"Tobi?" The name sounded oddly familiar to Sakura… "They must mean Madara. He has an alias as Tobi. Uchiha Madara, one of the founders of Konohagakure." Sakura knew more about the Akatsuki than most of the higher ANBU elite. In the past two years, she'd thrown herself into gathering as much intel on the Akatsuki as possible—volunteering for all the recon missions into their territory, interrogating Jiraiya, helping Tsunade go through reports on the black-cloaked group. Though, she thought bitterly, she hadn't helped Naruto at all, seeing how they were going to be the ones to end him, and not the Akatsuki. It seemed like a bitter twist of fate.

"Yes, Madara," her teacher replied with a terse nod. At first, when Sakura had told her Uchiha Madara was alive, she hadn't believed her. _Madara? He'd fought alongside my grandfather! How could he be still alive? _But the Uchiha had as much as said so, the one and only time Sakura and a few others had come in contact with him.

He'd been missing one arm and had had a bandage wrapped around his eyes, with a mask similar to Kakashi's over his lower face. Sakura had assumed they could take him on, easily. Wrong. _Tobi _had looked dumb, always speaking in third person and such (_but then again, appearances could be deceiving… such as Naruto._) Madara had still been more than a match for their group of six, and could've killed them easily if they wanted to. Instead—he'd just left. After 'introducing' himself, of course.

"_How far Konohagakure has fallen… I'll leave you alive for now, because I have much more important things to bother myself with than the likes of you, for now. Such as capturing the Nine-tails jinchuuriki. The time is coming, Konoha-nins, when I will bring the shinobi world to its knees in front of me! Remember the name Uchiha Madara!" _

And he'd disappeared in a whirl of air.

"He's crazy," Shikamaru muttered. He had been on the team with Sakura that had met Madara.

"Madara?" Ino echoed. Sakura mouthed _"I'll explain later" _and the other girl nodded. Sometimes, it was awkward to be around Ino. Even though her hair was a watered down version of his bright gold, and her eyes could never be as stunning a blue as Naruto's, it was still painful at times. Imagine! Awkward, painful, to be around someone who's your childhood friend!

But it was true.

"So, basically," Tsunade said, sitting down in her chair once more, "I need you three to help spread the word. Shikamaru, inform the strategy corps to stop planning and go inform Neji's team—you're leading Team 10. Ino, you go tell Choji and Hinata's. Sakura, stay here for a little longer—your team will be a three-man cell, Sai and Yamato, okay?" Sakura nodded.

Sometimes she wondered how things had changed so much, so quickly. Sasuke gone, Naruto gone, Kakashi dead. It…hurt, how easily everyone had abandoned her.

"We leave in one day! Akatsuki might make their move tomorrow or in a week, so we have to depart quickly. The main gate is the meeting place! Got it? Go!" Ino and Shikamaru left in simultaneous puffs of smoke, and instantly, Tsunade looked older. Her Hokage tone was gone, and she slumped on one hand, tired. Sakura took a few steps forward.

"Sensei…?"

The Fifth was fumbling around in one of the desk drawers. Sakura felt a moment of panic. She swore, if her teacher pulled out a bottle of sake—she'd smash the desk! Yeah! That's what she'd do!

But Tsunade only set a fresh Konoha newspaper on her desk, beckoning Sakura over. The pink-haired kunoichi leaned over Tsunade's shoulder like she'd done so many times before.

Her green eyes scanned the paper, not seeing anything unusual. It looked like an ordinary Konoha civilian paper, with the headlines screaming "ICHIRAKU'S WINS THE LAND OF FIRE RAMEN CONTEST AGAIN!" Sakura, however, wasn't one of the brightest kunoichi in Konoha for no reason. Her gaze zeroed in on the ad circled in thick red ink—as red as blood.

"Tsunade-sensei?" she asked again, not quite sure what this meant.

"I have a bad feeling about this mission," Tsunade murmured. "I haven't won anything this big—_five hundred million ryo_—ever. Which only means that this…something extremely bad is going to happen on this mission to Suna. Something that's never happened before when I win jackpots."

Sakura didn't think the Hokage remembered she was there, especially when Tsunade buried her face in her arm. "Why does this always happen to me?"

She gently patted Tsunade on the shoulder before swinging out the window behind her, leaving her teacher. Sakura knew how Tsunade felt, often. It must be lonely to be like Tsunade—the only one of her team left in this world. At least Sasuke and Naruto were still _alive_.

Yet Sakura couldn't shake the knotted feeling in her stomach either.

Tsunade knew Sakura had left, but just grabbed a bottle of sake from under her desk. Alcohol would help numb her brain. It always did. She felt slightly bad for blurting out her troubles to her pupil; Tsunade forgot about it after the first big gulp.

While the sake did bring a familiar, welcome haze to her mind, it did nothing to disperse the feeling of dread permeating her. Tsunade put her head down again, mumbling into her green jacket.

"Why do I feel like I'm going to lose someone precious…again?"

* * *

><p>Sasuke landed silently in front of the blasted apart door. There was really no point, because his conscience-sharer probably had detected him already with her—<em>his<em>—Sharingan, but years of being a ninja and Orochimaru's training had ingrained the 'be stealthy' mode into him.

He stared at the door, blending into the hillock over the cave perfectly, camouflaged with the help of an earth jutsu. Of course a steel door wouldn't stop a normal ninja (Naruto's Rasengan—_he'd seen what is had done before, blasting the water tank apart_—had cut through the steel, forming a grotesque metal flower) but that was the reason he'd handcrafted the seal—a personalized seal—that would only allow _real _people over it. She could open it, but could not cross it. In truth, Sasuke had never suspected anything like _her _to be 'born' from _him. _His conscience-sharer had never told him the whole story of how she was born—he'd known she had started talking to him after Itachi's massacre, and had become physically apart from him after the last fight. Sasuke just had never expected to see her again, and when he'd found her a couple months later, had had no intention of taking her captive. That is, until she said the words—like she'd wanted him to imprison her.

"_You still haven't gotten Itachi yet? Oh, well I guess you just did start training… Itachi's strong, you know. I can see him with my Sharingan—it's like having a vast spy network all at my disposal."_

Sasuke had to have her then. Why waste such a valuable tool?

Now that he started, though, her words brought the person who'd been haunting him since he was eight back to the surface. _Itachi. _As always, whenever he thought of his _brother_, black turned red and his fingernails clenched into his palms. He hated his brother—and while his conscience-sharer's words had been true back then, they weren't true any longer. Sasuke _knew _he could defeat Itachi if he wanted to…if Itachi quit running away!

The Uchihas had met more than once. A couple times actually. But each time, Itachi found an excuse. The first time, he'd beat Sasuke up with an extremely complex genjutsu. The second time they'd met, Itachi had begun to fight, only to turn out as a clone. The third time, he'd just plain and simple ran away.

_Coward, _Sasuke thought angrily, but he knew he couldn't just go in and face her like this. She'd only take advantage of it—his conscience-sharer had grown more contempt for him after he'd locked her up, even though he'd sworn that that's what she'd wanted. Sasuke shook his head. _Stop it. _He locked up the memories and shut them into an iron box in the corner of his mind. He would transfer them to his conscience-sharer as soon as possible.

That was a good thing about her—he could send the memories over that he didn't want (_all of them_) and wouldn't be bothered by them in fights…how sometimes this fight reminded him of how similar it was to fights with Team 7. Most importantly, they didn't plague him at night with _'what if's' _and _'what could've been'_s.

A slight side effect: sometimes, she would bring them out deliberately and show them to Sasuke, forcing him to remember.

Slight side effect, of course.

Gradually, the Sharingan faded and he breathed deeply before placing a hand on one of the less jagged steel petals; he jumped through the Naruto-sized hole a few seconds later. Without wasting any time, he opened the boulder and stepped easily over the threshold.

She was, as always, standing in front of her little table on which she mixed various medicines to pass the time, using the ingredients Sasuke sometimes brought her. "Hello, Sasuke," she greeted him pleasantly. "You're early for a visit… Have you seen Naruto, I wonder?"

That instantly brought a reaction—that was why Sasuke had come here, after all.

As soon as the boulder slid shut again, he was in front of her. "Why did you let Naruto go?" he hissed, knocking aside the table. Jars clattered to the floor, but they didn't break. His conscience-sharer had long learned to make them unbreakable after Sasuke's first tantrum.

Black eyes, light-filled, met dark ones fearlessly. "Let? What do you mean, _let_? Naruto's not yours, Sasuke."

"I told you to keep him in here," he snarled—so softly, yet it carried an infinite more amount of menace than a normal snarl. "Why didn't you?"

She laughed shortly, dryly. "Ha! That's funny. If you'd really wanted to keep him in here, all you'd have to do was put up a couple strong barrier seals. Obviously you didn't care that I let him out, Uchiha, since you've done nothing. Did you really think I would've made Naruto stay in here? Naruto is fire, while you are ice. Fire, in the end, always extinguishes even the coldest ice, _Sasuke._"

Her lips still managed a twisted smirk after Sasuke slammed her into the wall, hand around her throat. Sasuke was aware that his eyes were red now. He might as well not have calmed down at all. "Are you trying to say something?"

"Oh, yes I am. You just dump Naruto here, without any explanation, hurt because _you _stabbed him in the lungs _again! _And after that, you just take off like you're some prince that doesn't need saving. Well? You know what? Sometimes even the prince needs to be saved!" She spat the words in his fast, eyes shining with an unrestrained anger. If Sasuke had been a lesser man, her coldness might've stung. But since Sasuke wasn't a lesser man, and he often used that same tone himself, the cold didn't bother him.

But the truth of her words did.

"He'll just get in the way now. He would've done more in here…and I thought you were on my side," Sasuke sneered, clenching his fingers in deeper. A second later, his hand closed around air, and he turned to see his conscience-sharer behind him.

"You can't kill me, Sasuke. No matter how much you try. And you're wrong, you know. Naruto can't be quenched like ice can—he can't stay still and do nothing. Naruto…will always be a hero," she said. Sasuke didn't miss how her lips tilted up slightly as she said Naruto's name. "If you thought I was on your side, you've been mistaken for a long, long time. You're black, I'm gray, and Naruto's a brilliant white, even if he has a fake coating of darkness right now. However, in the end, Naruto will always shine through."

Sasuke didn't reply.

"It hurt, you know, lying to him. More than I thought it would. More than it hurts to lie to you. I miss his loud, _real _personality, the one he thinks he shed. His new one doesn't fit him…" She glanced up, long bangs falling against the side of her face.

"I'm sorry. This won't last forever, but I need to have some control right now. I'll be grateful if you stop calling me conscience-sharer, by the way. Naruto gave me a name"—again with smile—"Nakami."

"Nakami…" he echoed. _Inner beauty? Stupid Naruto. _When had his eyes returned to normal?

"Why don't you sit?" she—Nakami—asked, sweeping her arm out to a forgotten blanket pallet in the center of the cave. It was rumpled, probably Naruto's. "This could take a while." She gave a vaguely evil laugh. "I didn't know it would feel this good to rebel!"

* * *

><p>Endless desert.<p>

Sometimes…no, _always_, Naruto wondered how Gaara could stand to live in a place so full of the gritty, tiny _rocks_. Blowing in the wind, biting into your skin, a thousand times more harmful than any minor jutsu could be.

Because it wouldn't freaking stop!

Oh, wait, Gaara could stand it because Gaara was always around it. Surrounded by it. Protected. Gah! Well then, it was easy for Gaara, wasn't it?

Naruto's mind had had too much free time again.

The sand stretched out, unbroken, in front of him. The dunes made it look more like an ocean than earth, but Naruto could feel the spray of sand beneath his ninja sandals with every step he ran. _Why can't the whole world be covered with trees? _

_**Because, idiot, then everyone would be the same, and it'll be no fun at all fighting people.**_

_Well, true, _Naruto conceded. He was slightly surprised at this—a year ago, he wouldn't have even considered the Kyuubi's aspect of thinking. Everything the same? No fun fighting? That's why they shouldn't have trees everywhere? Now… It was weird to be thinking on the same page as the fox.

Even if his way of thinking made perfect sense.

_Heh, I'm being corrupted! _The thought was an amused one, not a panicked, scared one like a normal person would have. _So, demon, do you have any idea where the Akatsuki is? _

The fox replied grudgingly. _**No… and before you say something stupid and smart-alecky, it's because we're in the middle of nowhere! I hate sand. That's why I never attack this place; leave it to that big dumb tanuki demon! **_The Kyuubi did that a lot, these days, seeming to open up more to Naruto. At the beginning of his isolation, the fox hadn't been a comfort. Just there, egging him on, refusing to let Naruto back out and return home. The demon had been closed off.

What had made him change, Naruto didn't know for sure. He could still sense that malicious intent behind all the Kyuubi's talk, but he chose to ignore it for now. Deal with it when the time comes and all that, right?

"Gaara," Naruto said aloud. His voice sounded awkwardly noisy in the endless blowing plains; the only company to his voice was the wind. He cleared his throat and tried again. "We could try looking for Suna. I know roughly where it is, and we could get more info there, right? The Akatsuki _are _around here, after all." He felt the fox agree inside him. "Suna it is, then."

As Naruto disappeared in a puff of the dust leftover by his running, he didn't notice, nor Kyuubi, two humongous green leaves closing and vanishing back underground.

* * *

><p>"They're coming," Temari echoed in relief. She sighed, feeling like a big weight had been lifted off her shoulders, slumping against the wall tiredly. She was running on about three hours sleep, having given most of her time to tending Gaara and the rest of Sunagakure.<p>

The leader of said village was currently lying on a pallet, face pale and drawn—sleeping an uneasy sleep. Temari ached to see her brother looking that way; he'd been getting so much more rest after Shukaku had been extracted. It reminded her of darker times, seeing Gaara like that.

Gaara hadn't woken up since the Akatsuki had retreated and Temari had sent a messenger hawk to Konoha pleading for help. She was worried that he was falling into a coma, and knew that Kankuro was too. "Yeah," Kankuro agreed, "thank God."

The puppet master was leaning against the doorframe to the hospital room they were in. At least the Akatsuki hadn't attacked the buildings—she supposed that was _one _thing to be grateful for. But it didn't really lessen the nervous tension strung high around the village. Civilians were still in hiding, and more capable shinobi guards had been posted around the cave. (_Yet she knew they'd be no match for any of the Akatsuki._)

The casualty count had been high. Not as high as when Konoha had been ravaged by Pein, but still high enough. If—no, when, the Akatsuki struck again, she didn't know if there would _be _a Suna left to save.

Half of Temari wished that Naruto would just go and sacrifice himself again. The other half was instantly sorry they'd ever wished that and hoped Konoha would be strong enough to kill a couple of the S-class missing-nins. Just take down Itachi, and everything would suddenly be easier. Or Pein.

Yet no one factored in Tobi…

Kankuro wasn't feeling all that good. He had a cracked rib and was just plain out exhausted, chakra-wise. It would take a couple of days to rebuild it all, and he had to fix his puppets too. Ant had taken a severe beating the other day. _Was that only a day ago? It seemed so long… _"Temari, you should get some rest. We've got most of the majorly injured patients stabilized, and the civilians have been taken care of. Gaara's …probably okay"—his sister didn't miss the hesitation before 'probably'—"no, he'll be _fine_, sis! Just, take a nap, okay? I'll tell you if the Akatsuki attack again." His lips were twisted into a grim smirk.

She sighed and pushed herself to her feet, realizing she really did need the rest when she almost fell on her way up. Hopefully Kankuro hadn't seen that… "I'll be next door, in the medical room there. They have a bed empty. You better call me if anything about Gaara changes!" Temari threatened before leaving, grabbing her fan on second thought.

Kankuro smiled after his oldest sister. She really did love Gaara, even after all the terror he'd put them through. "Gaara, I hope you're okay too," he muttered, retaking Temari's vacated spot.

Gaara's face was paler than normal, making the character for love stand out even redder against the skin. His chest fell uneasily, off-beat, and Kankuro could sense—he couldn't really _see_—the eyes moving under the black insomnia-induced eyelids.

"Are you having bad dreams, little brother?" Kankuro asked, knowing Gaara couldn't hear.

This all seemed like a bad dream, really. One day, perfectly fine. The next second, _whammo! _Attacked, severely injured (people-wise) by the Akatsuki. Kankuro still didn't understand exactly why the Akatsuki had attacked in the first place. Naruto was coming, was that what Gaara had been trying to say? Why would Akatsuki attack _Suna _though? Yes, Naruto was dropping bodies here, but it wasn't like he was going to come _now. _Were they trying to prove a point?

He rubbed his face, missing the familiar feel of the face-paint, yawning. Kankuro shouldn't have been lecturing Temari on sleep-deprivation; he was tired enough too. Oh well, they _would _call if anything went wrong, right? After all, all they had to do was hold out until Konoha got here…

* * *

><p><em>Drip, drip.<em>

The sound of water falling echoed in the cave. _Drip-dripdripdripdrip _before finally choosing to die.

The Akatsuki were used to silence.

Konan was still gone, tending to Nagato like she always did after a major fight. She cared too much about him. If it weren't for her skill, Madara would have insisted Pein kick her out a long time ago.

Itachi was honing a kunai knife, methodically scraping the iron blade over and over with a stone. By now, it was probably so sharp that if you pressed it lightly against someone's skin, blood would well out.

Madara himself was staring into the crackling fire, standing with his hands behind his back. He gave a low, amused chuckle to himself and felt Itachi's eyes rest briefly on him before returning back to the blade. Sometimes he wondered what he'd do if Itachi tried to kill him. True, Madara didn't know all of Itachi's weaknesses or strengths, but then again neither did Itachi know his. Who would win? The ultimate battle of the Sharingan…

_One day, _he promised himself, before turning right on time to face Zetsu slithering back out from the ground. "So?"

Zetsu grinned grotesquely—actually, when was he _not _grinning? The point was, more grotesquely than normal. "It was delicious! But the Suna-nins sure cleaned up fast…"

"Moron!" the Black side snapped, cutting off the White. "He's asking if we _saw _anything."

"Oh…" White Zetsu trailed off.

Black Zetsu gave an annoyed sigh. Out of all the Akatsuki left, Zetsu was most likely the one that talked the most. Pein didn't, unless to relay information and orders. Konan only to be impudent and talk to Pein. Itachi only if he had to, and sometimes not even then. Madara talked more than the rest, but Zetsu won by far. Madara nodded to the Akatsuki's ultimate spy.

Black Zetsu smirked—or made a sound that would've been a smirk, had he actually had a visible mouth. "Well, we certainly found something interesting, eh?"

"Yeah, yeah!" White Zetsu exclaimed. "We saw Gaara faint!"

"_No!" _Black Zetsu hissed, raising a hand to slap White Zetsu. He obviously thought better of it after the possibility that he would be hurting himself too occurred. "Well, yes, but we saw the Kyuubi-kid walking along the desert! All by himself, toward Suna."

"Oh, you meant that?" the other half mumbled.

Madara smiled under his mask. "I knew my old friend wouldn't let me down; he'd bring Naruto here, if only to sate his own curiosity. Foxes are greedy creatures." He turned back to the fire. "So, our plan worked… Now should we continue our attack on Konoha?"

Just then, out of nowhere, paper fluttered together to reveal Konan. "I apologize that I'm back late," she murmured softly. Tendo appeared beside her.

"Just in time! We were going to decide if we should attack Suna or not once more. I, myself, think we should. Konoha's coming too, and the Uzumaki brat? This is just one party too good to miss. If only Sasuke was joining us too, Itachi." The last was directed at the man still sitting, honing his kunai.

Itachi ignored everyone, speaking as if he was the only one in the room. "I don't really care either way." Madara didn't fail to notice the way Itachi flung the kunai into the ground once everyone's attention was focused back on Madara. It dug in hilt deep, and Itachi glared up at him with red swirling eyes.

"Or do you?" Madara questioned softly. "Zetsu?"

"Oh yeah! More food for us, right?"

"Idiot. We both agree."

"I don't care either." Konan replied for both her and Pein.

"Wonderful," Madara said. "I can't wait for the fun to begin at last. If we manage to catch the jinchuuriki now, my Eye of the Moon plan will finally succeed. Unstoppable…ruling the shinobi world." The rest of the Akatsuki stood by him, quiet once more, listening to their leader speak. "Only then can true peace finally succeed."

Itachi watched silently, only his eyes betraying the slightest flicker of hate.

* * *

><p>"Sai!" Sakura landed in front of the black-haired former-Foundation ninja. He looked up, eyes betraying no interest—as usual. "Tsunade-sensei says we have a mission, tomorrow. Early morning, meet at the main gates, okay? Mass debrief there." She turned to leave again.<p>

A hand on her wrist stopped her. "Ugly, what's wrong? You didn't ask about what I was drawing."

At the (sadly) semi-familiar nickname, Sakura relaxed a little. And that little relaxation brought everything over the edge. She collapsed on the stone head of the Second Hokage and sighed. "Everything's wrong! We're hunting _Naruto_, first of all, and I agreed to it! Willingly! And then, now we're going to aid Suna because the Akatsuki are back on rampage _again._"

"Akatsuki?"

"Yes! And now Naruto and Akatsuki and Suna… And I just keep having this horrible feeling in my gut that something is going to happen on this mission." Sakura heaved another big sigh, closing her eyes. "I miss Kakashi-sensei and how he would always try—but fail—to reassure us…"

A tear leaked out the edge of her eye. Sai was kind of uncomfortable. What was he supposed to do now? He was positive none of his books talked about comforting hormonal, emotional, teenage girls. "I'm sorry," he finally answered.

Sakura took that as initiative to talk again. "I thought…maybe…everything would be okay again. I was stupid, I know, but maybe, Naruto was really there that day in the village, you know? And the stranger? That was Naruto talking about his promise. Bring Sasuke back and all. He always did have that obsession with bringing Sasuke back," she choked, emitting a coughed laugh. "I always wondered if he would've done that for me… Probably not. The letter made me lose hope, you know? He's not coming back. But then… he _did. _I'm sure of it. He's been around here, and Sasuke too! Hope cruelly came back to me, only to be extinguished once again. And now, here we are, hunting Naruto. Killing my best friend." More tears. Her sentences were getting blurred, not making much sense anymore.

Sai felt awkward. Really. What kind of situation was this? _I probably need more books from the library if I don't know how to handle this, _he mused.

Outside though, he was patting Sakura's hand. "It'll be okay, Ugly. Just … take a nap. That's what my books always say. Naps are good."

Sakura laughed again. This time it didn't sound nearly as forced. "Sai… You and your books…"

The other ninja left quietly after Sakura fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Ino found Hinata at the memorial stone. Kiba sat next to her, leaning against Akamaru. "Why are you guys always here?" she asked, coming up to them.<p>

Hinata started, whipping her head around before smiling. "Oh, Ino!"

"Hey," Kiba called, raising a lazy hand. Akamaru was asleep. "I'm only here because I'm keeping Hinata company. She doesn't say so, but she gets lonely sitting here staring, waiting for Naruto's name to magically appear alone."

"K-Kiba-kun!" Hinata's face turned a light shade of pink. Her stutter appeared only when she was flustered now. "That's n-not true!"

"Say whatever you two want," Ino scoffed, hands on her hips. "I'm here to tell you guys about a meeting tomorrow morning. Main gates to the village. We're going on a mission to help Suna; more info there and all that." She brushed off her hands. "Done with that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find Choji and tell him…" The two stared after her as she quickly retreated.

"That was kinda random," Kiba commented before snapping his hands in front of Akamaru's nose. "Yo! Akamaru! Go find Shino and tell the old bugger about tomorrow." After he received a whine: "Go! Or else you don't get any of the special nutritional doggie food tonight like you always do before long missions. And I don't care that you can't talk—okay! Fine. _I'll _go."

Kiba stood up, brushing his pants off and glancing down at Hinata. She was still sitting in front of the memorial, hands wound around knees tightly. "Hinata… you'll be fine?"

She looked up, pale eyes full of worry before they were wiped clean. "Of course, Kiba-kun! Go. I'll just stay here a little longer." She dropped her eyes back to the memorial stone, and Kiba walked away, a little hesitatingly.

_I wonder, when did we all start keeping secrets from each other?_

* * *

><p>The clouds looked so pretty today too. And then they dropped the bombshell.<p>

Why is every gorgeous day a bad one?

Shikamaru sighed, scuffing his toe along the dusty road. Villagers had it easy. If he'd known that being a ninja would actually require a lot more work than he'd thought, he would have _never _become one. It was just too much effort for someone as lazy as him.

Where was he even supposed to find Neji? Or Lee? Or Tenten? Shikamaru hoped that Ino knew she'd have to find Choji, because no way in hell was he going to go anywhere else after this. Especially since they'd probably have to run nonstop to get to Suna. "I really hope they're all together and not spread out. If I find Lee, I swear I'm going to make him find the rest. Probably say some extremely stupid thing like 'If you don't do it, you'll have to run two hundred laps on one hand' or something…" Shikamaru rambled on. Nobody really paid attention to the Nara kid ambling in the middle of the road.

Naras were just _like_ that.

"Shikamaru! What are you doing? You'll get run over!"

Oh, speak of the devil.

"Lee, no he won't. There's no carts this time of the year; it's winter!" Tenten's voice cut through Shikamaru's reverie. Oh goodie, it looked like the whole Team Gai was there. Including Gai.

The Green Beast of Konoha had grown considerably smaller in personality and loudness the first months after Kakashi had died. Shikamaru had almost felt bad seeing the formerly crazy teacher walking normally along the road instead of bouncing on rooftops. He could understand—a life without Asuma had seemed dreadfully morose at first. Until he found something to fight for.

Apparently, Gai's 'thing to fight for' was that he had to make sure Kakashi's death did _not _go to vain! (His exact words.) Nowadays, Shikamaru wondered if Gai had a stop button. He was always running from this mission to help build that house to go try and kill that Akatsuki or whatever.

_Isn't it tiring to have a goal like that?_

But anyway, back to the present, Shikamaru focused on the sight of four jounin ninjas crowded around one small café table. "Join us, Shikamaru!" Gai boomed.

Four cups of tea sat in front of them. Lee's and Gai's were completely drained. Tenten's was half gone, and she was slowly sipping it, having the decency to look mildly embarrassed, at least. Neji didn't even bother concealing the disgust on his face. "How'd you get dragged here, Neji?" Shikamaru addressed the Hyuuga prodigy.

Neji shrugged. "Forced to. Tsunade said so. Team bonding."

"Tsunade_-sama_," Tenten corrected. "So, how are you, Shikamaru?" Shikamaru shrugged. "You guys are all so boring!"

"I'm just here to tell you about a mission." He quickly went on before Gai could interject something. "Tomorrow morning, early, Konoha main gates. Details there, something about protecting Suna from the Akatsuki…"

Shikamaru took the chance and left when Gai began yelling about defeating the Akatsuki. Lee had exuberantly joined in. Neji had long disappeared. "Ah, Shikamaru? Huh? Oh well, you two pay the bill, okay?" Tenten asked, grinning before teleporting away.

* * *

><p>"Do you ever wonder what would've happened if…"<p>

"If?"

"Well…if Jiraiya didn't die? If Naruto didn't leave? If you didn't fall into your coma?"

"Of course I wonder, Shizune. I'm only human, after all." Tsunade closed her eyes and poured another cup of sake. It took skill to do that. "What if…what if… Everything could've been different. One tiny decision could've been all it took."

The reason Shizune wasn't stopping her mentor from drinking was because she knew how stressed Tsunade was right now. And while she'd have a hell of a hangover tomorrow at the rate she was guzzling the stuff, it was better to have her numb now than angry and grumpy later…right?

Tsunade was still drunkenly talking. "…It doesn't matter, Shizune. Now, I can't do anything. My generation's time is long past." Hiccup. "You know what they say, always move forward. Be strong. Get over deaths."

Her eyes remained trained on the glass bottle. It reflected the lights from the bar prettily, shooting little rainbows of color everywhere. The black-haired woman across from her sat patiently, her own cup of sake untouched.

"How can anyone not wonder? Always the question…

"_What could've been._"

* * *

><p><strong>I hate my laptop! I originally had this thing more than half typed out and suddenly it just <strong>_**shuts down. **_**Gah. I hate it when it does that! Sigh. So, anyway, yeah. It's still here, just slightly modified from the original version. My computer is being a pain in the butt. It keeps saying I have 'viruses' and rebooting and all that crap, plus saying the 'internet's not working' and REFUSING TO LET ME HAVE SOUND ON THE INTERNET! GAHHHHHH!**

**I'm glad I made Nakami rebel, because typing conscience-sharer really was a pain after a while! I hope you think this chapter is still good, if a bit rushed. I had to scramble to remember everything. I guess this kinda thing is good once in a while though… maybe. Don't really know what the last interlude between Tsunade/Shizune was all about though. Hope you liked it anyway!**

**Naruto's having less and less screen time isn't he? It's because he's really hard to write, all angst and stuff. He's a happy person by nature! But oh well, he'll come up a lot soon. Lol hint: maybe Konoha and Suna and Naruto and Akatsuki and—okay, probably not Sasuke—will all cross paths! GASP! **_**Maybe… **_**It's not the big fight scene everyone is waiting for, though. :D Reviews, as always, are appreciated! Any questions, I'll be happy to answer. Haha! Anyway, see you in the next chapter!**

**TBC!**


	10. Chapter Nine

**A/N: How's life for everyone? How's summer? XD**

**So is anyone going to see the Harry Potter movie 7 part 2 (so long to write!) this Thursday? Or Friday morning, you know, whichever? I want to go, but no one can send us back! *sob* and apparently it's illegal to walk in the city from 11 pm to 5 am…weird! Someone pointed out to me that last chapter, it might've looked like 'Sakura's grandfather' when I'd really meant **_**Tsunade's **_**fighting alongside Madara. Hope no one got too confused! And in the A/N of the last chapter, it said that Choji's dad hadn't died. I was referring to the canon, not my story. Because obviously my story is kinda skewed :) I think it was because I stuck that right behind the 'Shizune is awesome' part…**

**I love the quotes this time. (In Dark Angel. Random, but yeah I love them) Again with the skipping around in POVs—they're basically progressing toward the main battle thing in this chap. And I caved into using a common Japanese name… you'll see.**

**Disclaimer: Do I really need to **_**say **_**it now? OF COURSE Naruto's mine! Mph mppph mpph! *sounds of being dragged away***

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Nine<strong>

_Never long for anyone from the past. There's a reason why they never made it to your future. _–Anonymous

_A million words couldn't bring you back, I know because I've tried. Neither could a million tears, I know because I've cried. _–Anonymous

The sun dawned to reveal a mass group of shinobi by Konoha's main gates.

As if the sunrise was what she'd been waiting for, the Hokage raised an arm for silence. Instantly, the ninjas milling around stilled and stared at their leader. Tsunade wasted no time getting down to business.

"Konoha-nins! I have called you here for a reason. No doubt you've all heard of the Suna attack by now and have a vague idea about this mission. Most of you assume it's a mission to help Suna, correct?" A barrage of '_yes_'s rose from the audience.

"Well, this is _no ordinary mission! _It is to be treated as an S-class one, in fact, because you all have been specially chosen for your talents—why? Because this is no ordinary opponent. We will be dealing with _the Akatsuki._"

Immediately, hushed murmurs and questions were exchanged among the crowd as they reveled in the newest information. _Akatsuki? Specially chosen? Are we supposed to fight them?_

They gradually quieted again to let Tsunade speak. "I speak the truth when I say this. We don't know what to expect—but know that all of the Akatsuki are there. They attacked Suna barely three days ago, and have by now most certainly recovered, if they were harmed at all in the first place. Your mission: aid Suna!"

A jounin called from the crowd. "What if we encounter an Akatsuki member?" By now, all of Konoha's elite had heard about the infamously legendary black-and-red group of missing-nins. "Kill or capture?"

"I suggest you run," Tsunade answered, folding her arms across her chest. Her head was secretly killing her, but if one judged her by appearance, they would've said she'd never looked better. Shizune eyed her mentor worriedly from the side of her eye. _I really regret letting her drink that much… _Meanwhile, the audience was getting rowdy again.

"Run?" Incredulous whispers erupted once more. "She wants us to _run. _What kind of shinobi will the Sand think we are?"

"Yes! _Run. _The Akatsuki are not to be underestimated! Even the weakest one can kill you with the flick of a finger. Your mission is to aid Suna and that only, understand?" Tsunade's voice was loud and commanding. "Although, of course, you will have to fight them. But under no circumstances is anyone going to attempt to capture or kill. Value your life more than battle for once, Konoha!"

A beat of silence. Finally, "Understood, Hokage-sama." Tsunade smiled, satisfied. She didn't want to lose any more manpower than necessary. Konoha wasn't ready for another war, let alone this minor battle that could turn major in the blink of an eye.

She only wanted the best for her village, after all.

"Depart!"

On the command, the shinobi streamed out from the gates, instinctively taking to the forest, separating themselves into their assigned cells. They would run nonstop until almost at Suna; then, the leaders would allow a break to recuperate and gather chakra for the anticipated fight. Tsunade watched as the last jounin disappeared into the shadows.

"I hope they turn out fine," she mumbled.

Tsunade _really _needed more sake.

Especially since that dratted feeling still wouldn't go away.

* * *

><p>Sakura's team stuck close with Team 8. Both were three-man cells.<p>

Yamato-taichou was in the head, along with Shikamaru, and Sai and Choji took the middle. Sakura and Ino leapt through the trees next to each other. This reminded her of the times she and Ino would race each other to class, refusing to let the other win. Now, their life was a more easy friendship than intense rivalry.

Something was still troubling Sakura, however.

"Ino," she said quietly, not wanting her teammates to hear. "I don't get why Tsunade-sensei said for us _not _to capture or even kill any Akatsuki. Doesn't she want us to take those—" She choked a bit, filled with hate for the Akatsuki.

"I know," Ino agreed, also keeping her voice low as she continued speaking.

"What is it that the Hokage isn't telling us?"

* * *

><p>Hinata was regularly scanning the area with her Byakugan, checking for incoming threats. Her team was nearer to the front, because with all Kiba and Shino and Hinata's skills, they could very easily be a scouting team. Kurenai was leading their cell, and Hinata could hear Kiba's conversation with their sensei.<p>

"So how's your kid? Is she big now?"

Kurenai smiled. "Yes, Akane is almost five. She'll be entering the Academy soon." Hinata smiled too, hearing how Kurenai's voice grew softer, as always, when she was talking about Akane. Akane was beautiful, just like her mother, but Hinata could tell already she would have Asuma's personality.

It was while she was smiling that she saw it.

"Hinata! What's wrong?" Kurenai asked as her student suddenly faltered and nearly missed a step on the branch. The entire team halted as they gathered around Hinata, her breath coming too fast to be normal.

"Is she hyperventilating?"

"No, I think she's just in a slight shock," Shino answered Kiba. "Give her some time. Hinata, what did you see?" As always, only worry for his teammates could bring out his more talkative side.

Hinata focused on calming her heartbeat and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt the urgent need to lie. "I saw…a-a house. A tree-house." That wasn't exactly a lie, really, she assured herself. Hinata _had _seen a tree-house. That just wasn't what made her falter.

Kiba frowned, still sitting on Akamaru. "What's to get worked over about that?" But Akamaru whined underneath him, uneasily. "What is it, boy? Strong traces of chakra?"

"The house looks like it's been recently inhabited, but there's no one there now," Shino reported. A stream of bugs flew back into his jacket sleeve. "The chakra Akamaru must be sensing is from further on. My bugs say that there's what looks like a churned up mud-field out there. By a cliff."

Hinata nodded shakily, pretending that that was it. Because she knew that what she'd seen was really no big deal, to them, at least, and they needed to keep going to Suna instead of wasting time over her. "I-I'm okay," she assured them. Shino was expressionless; Kurenai had a faint note of worry in her red eyes; Kiba flat-out looked like he didn't believe her. "I really am! We need to go, anyway. F-for our mission?"

Her sensei finally nodded, sighing. "If you feel bad, Hinata, tell us and we'll stop. Okay?" Hinata nodded, and the cell started moving again.

Hinata tried to forget the eerie sight of black and white—even in her Byakugan state, she could tell the color; it was that powerful—chakra, not quite mixing in a not quite human body, vanishing into the earth.

They would only tell her it was her imagination, anyway.

* * *

><p>"It's time."<p>

Itachi stood, effortlessly, pocketing the ten wickedly sharp kunai—that really had no right to be that sharp—and heading toward the entrance to the cave. All six Paths of Pein were in attendance as well. Konan was waiting outside with them. Zetsu, having delivered his message of Konoha coming, stretched. "Let's separate," White Zetsu urged.

"No. It's only a waste of chakra if we do it now. Wait till later," the more sensible side ordered. The White side groaned, grumbling something like _"You always say that". _"Then you should learn to listen more!"

Madara walked out last. His blood was boiling for this fight already—he wanted desperately to pay the Kyuubi brat back for taking his arm. One could replace eyes, but he couldn't very well reattach his arm when Kakuzu was _dead_, could he? It was a very good thing that Madara knew how to concentrate chakra without two hands to form a seal.

"Is your brother coming?" Madara asked Itachi. He turned to look at the former, red eyes disdainful and not revealing any secrets of their owner. Madara wondered if Itachi would just ignore him—he didn't.

Itachi had faced front again by the time he answered. "Yes, he is. Just finishing some business with an acquaintance in the Land of Water…"

Well, that was a disappointment. "Looks like you won't be able to finally kill him this time, Itachi." It took too long to travel from there to here. Itachi didn't bother replying this time.

And Madara had been so looking forward to finally having a chance to talk to Sasuke too! He swore, sometimes, if he didn't know the whole truth, he might've thought that Itachi was being _overprotective _of his younger brother…despite claiming that he'd cut all ties with the Uchiha clan.

But Madara did know better, and he knew that while to outsiders, Itachi's 'overprotective-ness' might have seemed like betrayal to the Akatsuki, to him—let's just say it worked out perfectly fine. For now. He didn't need Sasuke just yet, after all.

"Towards Suna, then," he said.

Tendo turned towards him, no emotion as usual. Most of the other Akatsuki members had started across the desert, Itachi and the five Paths included. "Are you going to use that silly Tobi farce again? We're up against harder enemies this time…it would not be wise to keep letting your _playful _instincts take over."

Madara refrained from sighing, just barely. He wasn't sorry he had used Tobi as an alias—it was just fun to toy with Gaara—but he knew this time it wouldn't be as well accepted. And while Nagato shouldn't be saying things like that too him…well, Nagato wanted 'world peace' and all.

Something entirely different from Madara's own goals, but you know, _he _didn't have to know that.

"I think this time," Madara began slowly, reveling in his words. "I'll be myself, and let the world begin to know the first true tastes of pain!"

Satisfied, the Path turned away.

Madara smirked, hidden under his mask as he began to leave himself. His sentiment had been mostly truth, really…just a small lie at the end.

He wouldn't _let _the world _begin _to know the first true tastes of pain.

He would _unleash _pain on them, pain they'd _never_ seen before.

By killing the jinchuuriki they were all just too attached to.

What a perfect plan.

* * *

><p>What was this?<p>

Naruto was struck with a strangely familiar sense of déjà vu—one that wasn't entirely pleasant—as he looked over the wrecked village of Suna.

It wasn't destroyed the way Konoha had been: buildings demolished, bodies strewn. It was in a much subtler tactic, or so the Kyuubi informed him. Take away their buildings and people—that's called plain and simple obliteration. That was how the Kyuubi preferred to do things.

Take away their villagers, harm them, kill them…but don't touch their buildings, giving them false hope that they might survive—yet knowing in their hearts they would be wiped out sooner rather than later—letting them recover…well, that was much crueler. A snake's way of doing things.

Naruto couldn't really say which way he preferred more, but neither way bothered him at all.

The blonde ninja went so far as to just sit down on the highest level of Suna's stair-step walls, watching as robed med-nins went from this building to that one, carrying stretches laden with dying or injured people.

How long had it been since they'd been attacked?

_**Judging from the way most people have bandages and seem to be taken care of, I would say around three days.**_

There was the answer to his question then. _Ah. They've been recovering nicely, then, haven't they? _Naruto swung his legs, watching the busy movement far below him. Kinda like ants, his mind suddenly supplied him.

Seeming so strong—until you kill them with one well-placed foot.

There seemed to be no civilians out—had they been killed, perhaps? All of them? Unlikely, true, but after seeing what Pein had done to the village, all bets were off. Who knew the Akatsuki's true skills but them themselves?

And that exactly was what made them such good prey.

He sighed, nostalgically. Naruto had a very good feeling that at least one Akatsuki would die—and soon, by his hands—but only one? That was a disappointment. Couldn't be helped though if Konoha was coming.

Naruto would admit it. He had no sense of intuition at all, except involving his prey and such. Kyuubi was the one more talented in that area, and he'd sensed Konoha getting ready to move a day ago.

_Konoha._

_**Konoha.**_

While the words might've been the same, the way they were said were not. Naruto's was in no way wistful—he'd given up on the Leaf, the day he'd learned they'd given up on him—but more of a gentle surprise and pleasure. Basically—more prey.

The Kyuubi's on the other hand… Revenge was the first thing on the fox's mind. The word was anger infused, yes, but had more of a bloodthirsty edge. How a beast would say it if a beast could talk.

And the Nine-tails was definitely a beast.

_Then what does that make me? _flitted across Naruto's mind before a more pressing subject occurred to him. _I wonder what Gaara's up to. Did he die already? I hope not… Sand against fire. Who would win?_

_**Me, obviously, **_the demon fox snarled. _**He doesn't even have Shukaku anymore! I wouldn't be surprised if he was dead.**_

_That's a bit harsh, _he thought mildly. Dead. Gaara? Well, it definitely wasn't impossible. He'd died before, once upon a time when Naruto was still good. _Good. _What was good? The differences between black and white; evil and good had blurred so much that Naruto himself sometimes couldn't tell which side he was on.

The Kyuubi grinned in his golden cage, words practically fizzing with excitement. _**The Akatsuki's coming too… Right now. I can't wait for the blood…**_

_You're not going to come out, _Naruto warned him (_when had he started to refer to the fox as _him_ and not _it_?_).

His reply was a spine-crawling chuckle, just a bit delirious and just a fraction insane. _**You don't want to hurt your little Konoha friends, huh? **_

Naruto's outside face was as impassive as his inside. _I don't want to rely on your power anymore. It's time to put what I actually _learned _to use. Like the Sage state. _The Nine-tails didn't respond; as always, evil intent leaked from him, barely masked.

Figuring he'd get no more talk from the demon until the fight began, Naruto stood and pulled up his hood, masking his familiar hair once more, getting ready to trek back toward the desert. As a habit, he reached into the cloak's inner pocket, reaching for… nothing.

Right.

The headbands had fallen out during the fight with Sasuke, from what seemed like an eternity ago. (Time, to Naruto, passed too quickly and too slowly at the same time.) Naruto sighed, wishing he hadn't dropped them. Before a major fight, Naruto liked to take out his old headband and stare at it for a bit. No reason why; but the Kyuubi insisted he was being weak and missing _Konoha._

Naruto shrugged. Well, what would two little measly headbands do for him? He already knew he was strong.

As Naruto set off back into the desert to wait for the Akatsuki to arrive, he shivered slightly.

He told himself it was from anticipation for the oncoming fight.

Definitely not anything like nervousness…or even fear… for seeing his old ex-teammates.

Definitely not.

* * *

><p>Gaara's eyes blinked open. Once. Twice.<p>

Then he was promptly suffocated by a rush of green and silver and yellow. "Gaara! You finally woke up!"

Temari's arms were clenched around him tightly, making it slightly hard for him to breathe. "Let—go—Temari," he wheezed, closing his eyes again. He heard Kankuro's familiar voice coaxing the vice around his chest back, and as soon as he could adequately get air, Gaara reopened his eyes.

His sister looked sheepish, blushing slightly. "Sorry," she apologized. Kankuro was smirking next to her, also sitting on the ground. Relief was evident in both their eyes, and Gaara felt slightly bad that he'd left them to worry over him while he recovered.

Of course Gaara had _known _he wasn't going to die or anything near that. Chakra depletion and some minor shock from the wounds he'd received were nothing serious that he couldn't recover from.

No point in telling them that, though.

"How…is Suna?" His words were still coming a bit slowly, and he felt just a bit dizzy.

"Don't talk yet," advised Temari, her more 'adult' side taking over once more. "Get some food, Kankuro. Talk after you eat a little. You've been out of it for three days now!" She shot a deadly glare at her second-youngest brother, who was still loitering around. "I said _go_!"

The puppet-master backed away with both hands up, muttering something about _'why me?' _and _'always her slave' _as he went to find some food. Gaara closed his eyes as Kankuro left.

A little while later, he came back with a bowl of soup in his hand. "This good, oh highness Temari?"

Temari ignored the sarcastic tone, grabbing the bowl instead and handing it to Gaara. "Eat."

Gaara ate.

"Now, what were you saying?" Temari asked, sweet and kind again.

"Can I say bipolar?" Kankuro muttered. He was shut up with a vicious jab to the ribs.

The young Kazekage stared at both of them until they quieted. "Is Suna... What is the death count?" he corrected himself.

"Same as I told you before," was the sad reply. Temari fidgeted, not wanting to see the look in Gaara's eyes.

"I failed to protect my village," he murmured. Kankuro reached out, instinctively. He couldn't stand to see his younger brother act that way—so out of character for him.

"No! You didn't, Gaara. They were all so worried about you, and once they hear you woke again, everyone will be really happy—"

"But the Akatsuki are coming." The statement was flat. Empty. A fact.

Temari shuddered and tried to distract him—herself too—with another hope. "Konoha is coming! They're just a mere two days away, Gaara. Running full speed. I don't think the Akatsuki will attack that soon."

Gaara's eyes were just as she'd dreaded.

_Emptied of all hope._

"They are waiting," he stated, "because Naruto is coming. They are waiting so they can take three birds down with one stone—capture the Nine-tails, destroy Suna, and crush Konoha's most skilled fighters." But then, something in Gaara changed, and he pushed himself to his feet without the help of his siblings. Temari looked on anxiously, ready to catch him if he fell.

Gaara made his way to the door, still a bit light-headed. His eyes though, when he looked back, were determined. "That's their goal. Their ultimate objective. But Suna will not fall that easily, and now we have the Leaf standing next to us." He turned away, walking—to who knew where, issuing one last command to his slightly astounded siblings.

"Get Suna ready. We won't hold anything back this time."

* * *

><p>And so, over the next two days…<p>

Naruto waited.

The Akatsuki waited.

Suna waited.

And Konoha came.

* * *

><p>"They're coming!" a Suna scout called. "Konoha has arrived!"<p>

Instantly, Suna shinobi forces flooded out from the walls, deliberately blocking the way into the village. They were not going to take any chances this time.

Konoha flooded into view, a seeming endless wave of jounin and ANBU. Gaara was at the front of the Suna attack. "Welcome, Konoha ninja," he greeted them. He didn't look like he'd just spent three days recuperating.

The ANBU at the front bowed. "Kazekage-sama. Konoha has come to your aid, as requested." Gaara was about to say more when—

"Akatsuki sighted!"

The shinobi were so well trained they didn't dare throw themselves into a panic. After all, they'd already been informed of this possibly happening—the Akatsuki coming mere moments after the reinforcements arrived.

It had been a likely possibility from the start.

The eleven cloaked figures (Zetsu had separated and the two Peins had been reincarnated) approached as a group, walking sinuously through the dust. No noise at all came from the missing-nins. At the front was the one with the orange mask.

The Akatsuki, for some unnoticeable signal (_or reason_) halted a hundred feet away from Suna. They were closest to the Konoha force, and the shinobi noticeably shifted away from the S-class criminals, uneasy.

Still, nothing happened.

Some of the uninformed shinobi grew impatient—mostly Konoha-nins, wondering, what was going on? Where's the fight? What were they supposed to do?

Gaara waited.

He would appear soon…he had to, because that's what they'd all bargained for.

Minutes ticked by, and it seemed like Gaara's bets had been wrong after all. Maybe he hadn't known him as well as he thought he had. If he wasn't coming, then …they had no choice but to fight.

Gaara held up a hand. Instantly, Konoha and Suna were on edge and ready to charge. The Akatsuki tensed too—but invisibly.

The strings were pulled tight...

Prepared to break.

The hand came down.

People—things—creatures began moving.

And one shadow jumped into the direct center of it all.

Gaara smiled just a bit. It looked like he'd been right after all.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he breathed.

His friend always did have a flair for dramatic entries.

* * *

><p>The silence was almost a palpable thing—able to touch it and feel it, thickening the air till it was hard to breathe. Or maybe that was just the hostility and adrenaline radiating off the ninjas assembled, forced to stop because of this one random person in the middle of their fighting field. Who knew what made them stop exactly, but they could all identify it.<p>

Something about him was _evil. _Ages evil.

For once—in probably all of fighting history—everything was still. Not one shinobi attacked another, no muscle twitching at all.

Waiting for the snap.

The formations were like a synchronized beauty, similar to the symmetry of Konan's origami butterflies. Akatsuki on the side from the desert, forming an eerie pattern with their red clouded black…a group of monsters.

Suna stood in front of their village walls, forming ranks ten deep.

Konoha took up two whole sides—they were not deep, but spread thin. At the very front—closest to the figure in the middle of it all—were the Konoha 10. Varying emotions ran through all the shinobi assembled, Akatsuki to Suna to Konoha.

_(Shock disbelief suspicion pleasure bloodthirstiness denial anger confusion)_

One thought was under all the emotions.

_Who is this ninja?_

_The one who dared to leap fearlessly into the middle of the fray, right when the three possibly most talented ninja groups in the world are about to attack?_

_Does he have a death wish?_

_Who is this ninja?_

_Who?_

Sakura thought her eyes couldn't grow any wider. Hinata felt faint. The rest of the Konoha 10 kept a constant stare on the cloaked figure just fifty feet away from them all, not daring to do the treacherous thing called hope, as he reached tanned hands up to the hood covering his face.

The tension grew thin—ready to shatter.

_Any second now._

_When will the explosions begin?_

Naruto smirked. This was just too much fun, taunting them. Teasing them. _**Get on with it…I want to spill some blood already, **_the Kyuubi growled. Guess he decided he couldn't wait until the fighting actually began.

_Patience is a virtue, didn't you tell me that? Besides, the only blood we're going to _spill _is the Akatsuki's. _A growl told Naruto that the fox didn't appreciate having his words thrown back to him.

_**You know what I always told you? **_**Weak.**

_Be that way, then, _Naruto told him, before cutting off the link completely. Ready?

Showtime.

Blue eyes stared confidently out from longish yellow bangs, the pupils just slightly longer than a normal human's. _Whiskers._

Whispers spread like wildfire through the ranks of the Konoha and Suna shinobi. "_It's the Nine-tail's jinchuuriki! The Kyuubi vessel!_"

Madara grinned.

Then Naruto spoke, immediately silencing all the noise in the area as a hundred pairs of eyes focused on him. Boring into him.

"_**Miss me?"**_

* * *

><p><strong>Disappointed at the cliffhanger? No major fight scene? Don't worry! Because if <strong>_**you **_**stick around for a couple (?) more chapters, **_**you **_**might be able to finally see it! So stay tuned… ! Yeah, my weird lame version of an advertisement XP Zetsu's EVERYWHERE isn't he? O_O As for this fic's pairing, I think I'll keep Naru-kun alone. Gomen-nasai! (again) Maybe I'll put hints in, but no actual pairing, you know? Okay. If it seemed like Sakura loves Naruto, it's because she does, like a sister. They're best friends! Ex-best friends! …yup… And I was looking through some of the other chapters and **_**man **_**I use a lot of smiley faces! … That's that, I think. Till then…**

**~gummybear1620~**

**TBC!**


	11. Chapter Ten

**A/N: I'm working on making these things shorter. While they **_**do **_**take up page space (hehe) it's kinda long… so yup! It's the fight—or not fight—we've all been waiting for! What will happen? Really? Everything happens (maybe) in this new exciting chapter … XD (I'm not making any promises though) Read and Review, my pets! (Ohohoh! And summer school is FINALLY OVER! YES!) **

**Slight warning: Sage state will not be exactly the same as canon, because for one it's new Naruto, for two I don't exactly remember what happened and I'm being a Shikamaru, which means I'm too lazy to look it up. Random POVs again (think, when do I **_**not **_**have it?)**

**Disclaimer: K. Masashi's…or is it M. Kishimoto's? Which is his surname anyway?**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Ten <strong>

_Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go. _–Kahlil Gibran

_For all the sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.'_ –John Greenleaf Whittier

_"Miss me?"_

After those two words, nothing happened, exactly. Nobody jumped into action, nothing so climatic like that. Just…

Silence.

Naruto couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. Really? After his dramatic entrance and _all that_, they couldn't think of _anything _to say?

Pathetic. The whole lot of them. He guessed he'd just have to provide the entertainment, then, even though he was technically a guest. _Such _bad manners. Naruto must've lowered his defenses during his grand revealing, and the Kyuubi had taken the opportunity to sneak back in.

_**Why don't you entertain them by **_**killing**_** them?**_

_I already told you! I'm only killing the _Akatsuki. _Say it with me… A-KA-TS-KI! _

_**Forgot the U.**_

_You know there's NO U when you pronounce it!_

Naruto shoved the fox away again. He only served to distract him, and that was something he couldn't afford right now. Talking would just have to settle as 'entertainment' until they actually started fighting. Naruto groaned silently. Adrenaline had found its way into his system and was making him itch for a battle.

Patience, isn't that right?

So he must wait. Well then, why not make it fun? "You all must be so surprised to see me. You aren't even saying anything!" Naruto didn't feel uncomfortable at all, with his back to the Akatsuki and all those eyes on him. A perk of when he was outgoing, he supposed.

Oh, look! Naruto's eyes had been scanning the Konoha ranks—he was _not _searching for his ex-teammates! Just sizing up the competition… The demon gave a snort.

It seemed like such a long time since when he'd snuck into Konoha, October 10… And his eyes eagerly devoured the faces of the eleven ex-teammates he'd been closest to—they were all in the most foremost ranks of the makeshift army.

Yamato _(when had he dropped the formalities too? So many things happened in so short time)_, Ino, Choji, Shikamaru, Sai, and of course, Sakura-chan _(some things were harder to forget though)_ even Kurenaiwas here! Hinata, Neji, Tenten, Kiba, Shino, Lee… They all had identical expressions of shock on their faces.

_Was I really that big of a surprise? _Naruto wondered. _I mean, they must've started to figure it out after that more-than-obvious fight between me and Sasuke. They knew I was after the strongest missing-nins, so it was certain that I would target the Akatsuki. They even saw me that day in Konoha! _

Apparently, some had expected him though.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

He'd remember that apathetic voice anywhere! "Gaara, long time no see, eh? Still the Kazekage? Not dead yet?" Naruto grinned.

Gaara had no emotion—as usual—whatsoever on his face. His stance was deceptively casual, hands in pockets, the familiar gourd still strapped to his back. But Naruto knew that no matter how much the former Shukaku vessel looked to be relaxed, he was anything but. Everyone was in Gaara's prime territory for attack. Sand could reach up and kill you without Gaara even moving an inch.

Naruto didn't feel afraid. He wasn't afraid of someone like _Gaara_, not anymore.

_**What's this? **_the Kyuubi asked softly, almost like he was speaking to himself. _**Hmm… Interesting…**_

_Care to tell me what you saw? _He received no reply, not that he had really expected one anyway. The fox ran on his own schedule and nobody else's.

In the end it didn't matter of the Nine-tails had told Naruto or not. Gaara's next words revealed it all.

"You are in our way. Get out." Naruto shook his head, still with that maniacal grin plastered on his face.

"And miss the fun? No way!"

"Then we'll just have to take you by force. This will give us a perfect chance to complete Operation: Hunt Uzumaki Naruto." It was then something broke in Gaara's eyes. Naruto hadn't noticed it before, and he couldn't now since it was already gone. "You've played right into our hands, saving us the problem of finding you. For that, I thank you."

Why did Naruto feel the strangest feeling of…something like… regret, coming from Gaara? When he said _thank you_ it was almost as if—he was thanking Naruto for something else. For… Confusion made his mind run slowly.

Whatever he might've thought or figured out vanished after the Kyuubi snarled, _**See? They're ALL against you!**_

Gaara too, then, eh. It wasn't unlikely. After all, Gaara _had _been going to Konoha that night, and no doubt he'd also voted yes to hunting him. Still, betrayal couldn't stop itself from punching into Naruto's head, and he felt his smile drop like a stone.

His eyes bled red as he growled, "I don't need your thanks—_or your pity. _I'm here to do one thing…and one thing only!" Familiar orange circles, almost like eye shadow, appeared around Naruto's red eyes. The eyes themselves didn't change color, but the elongated pupils now had another dash through the center, like a cross. (1)

Naruto vanished, a puff of sand rising from where he had been.

Screw the Akatsuki plan.

* * *

><p>"You made me stay here so you could freaking <em>interrogate <em>me like you're some—_therapist_?.!"

Nakami could only laugh at Sasuke's angry expression, which just made him all the angrier. If normal people saw him like this, they'd probably pee in their pants from fear, and grizzly bears would run away screaming. But _Nakami…_ She just laughed! LAUGHED! At Sasuke! _Uchiha _Sasuke!

Sasuke had—long since, actually—realized by now Nakami didn't have a particularly great sense of self-protection.

Although that might be because she isn't really alive at all.

The black-haired teenager pretended that it didn't bother him at all. And to a certain degree, he _could _pretend.

"Sorry, Sasuke, but I'm in charge now," Nakami replied, wiping her eye. She was facing Sasuke on the makeshift pallet, where they'd stayed like that for who-knew-how-long. "Remember?"

Her answer was a glare.

"I guess you do, then," she said cheerfully. The first few hours had been used to shove the truth about Madara down his throat, and mainly torturing Sasuke using angst and other very reliable methods to reveal the issues of his childhood. He hadn't seemed to mind—a lot—at first…He looked pretty fed up now though.

"How long is this going to take?" he growled, hands clenching. Sasuke fought the urge to throttle Nakami when she smirked (_dammit that was annoying when she did that! Was that how others felt when he did that?). _The urge plagued him every single second, and the only reason he didn't give in was because he knew it'd be no use at all on the girl across from him.

She reached out a hand, expression hardening once more, despite her careless words. "Oh, Sasuke-_kun_, don't be so eager to leave just yet. I'm getting to the best part." Her reply was another glare and stony silence and Nakami had to fight back another insult. Just why was tormenting Sasuke so much fun?

Huh, maybe because he was actually pretty _easy _to torment, after you got under his skin?

Maybe.

Nakami dropped the pretenses of camaraderie along with her hand as she leaned forward once more. "Listen Sasuke, to me when I say this to you. It's the question you've kept avoiding over and over, the one you secretly dread having answered. But why do you dread it? Is it because you already know why, but you just don't want it to be said aloud? Or is it because you _don't _know, but your conscience"—she pointed to herself, allowing a gentle smile to grace her lips—"does?"

Sasuke answered coldly, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You do, and you're just being stubborn now. Everything else was just a buildup to this part, Sasuke," the girl sighed, stretching and lying down on her back. The cave ceiling was far up, shrouded in darkness, like Sasuke's heart. In order for Sasuke to realize what was best for him, he _had _to figure this out on his own.

It didn't mean she couldn't prod him every baby step along the way though.

That was what sisters were for, right? Nakami grinned before sitting bolt up-right again. "You do know you're wasting your time here, with me, right? If you answer this question, sincerely, I'll even let you go." She looked at him expectantly.

Nothing.

"If that doesn't prompt you," the girl groaned, "then…I was planning on using this as a trump card, but seeing you don't seem inclined to move your mouth anytime soon, I guess I'll have to use it now." She peeked through her eyelashes, waiting to see if Sasuke would just talk already. Nope.

"You know what? I'll just tell you and make you regret me telling you!" Nakami placed both her hands on her hips. This was getting old. Fast.

Sasuke finally snapped. "You don't actually have _anything _up your sleeve, do you? You're just saying that because you want me to talk!" Red eyes.

Nakami looked shocked, which was even weirder on her face than it normally was. It was disturbing for Sasuke to see emotions he'd never have displayed playing so blatantly across someone who looked frighteningly like himself. Just to make that face go away, he said, "I …I believe you." The words struggled to force themselves out of his throat. Damn pride—not that it was a bad thing.

"'Kay!" she bounced, grinning unexpectedly again, the shocked look gone as if it'd never been there. "I'll tell you anyway though, since I'm so nice and stuff." Without warning, she launched the bomb into the open, still appearing oh so casual. "The Akatsuki are at Suna, along with your brother, Konoha, Suna, and Naruto. About to get into a big fight too! Can't wait to watch it…"

It was like Nakami was talking about _television _or something, a small (very small) part of Sasuke thought. Not a real thing where many would die and—_Naruto and Itachi are there! _The bigger parts of Sasuke crushed the minuet voice, making his vision redder than it already was.

"You just tell me _now_?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't think it was _that _important, Sasuke." Nakami liked using his name in a condescending manner. A lot. "Told you, you'd want to leave now, don't you? So answer the question for me."

He grounded his teeth together, feeling the anger shake through him. A minute passed before he trusted himself enough to speak without severely injuring the girl, and even then his words were forced to sound civil. "What. Is. Your question?"

"Oh you know already, but I'll tell you again anyway." _She just loved playing games. _"Why did you bring Naruto here? What's the _real _reason why, Sasuke? The one that's hidden deeply in your heart?" Nakami's voice lowered.

"Why do you act like you don't care about anyone?"

* * *

><p>That voice.<p>

All the Konoha 10 had realized it now. It was the same as the rogue ninja's the day of the festival—the one Sakura swore had Naruto's eyes.

It looked like it had been Naruto after all.

Sakura could only pull herself out of her shock after she registered what Gaara was saying. Her eyes automatically snapped to the pale man's features, blank and schooled. _Just like Sasuke's—and… _She watched silently as the smile _(it'd looked so real it hurt) _dropped from Naruto's lips without any hesitation, making Naruto's face become…unreadable.

She hadn't noticed until now just how much they relied on Naruto's smile to read his face.

_Just like Sasuke's—and…_

…_Naruto's._

The pink-haired girl unconsciously touched the cloth folded neatly in her weapons pouch, resting against each other comfortably. One black, one blue.

Sakura had kept the forehead protectors after she'd found them—until now, she hadn't known why she'd had that terrible feeling of loss then…was it just two days ago that she stood in Tsunade's office?

Well, she knew why now.

It was because Naruto was truly gone. The small part of her that'd refused to accept the fact—caved. Disappeared.

_Died._

And this wasn't Naruto, whatever it was that stood in Naruto's body, with Naruto's face. Not the voice, not the personality. The Naruto they'd known had vanished…

Or never had existed in the first place.

Sakura's hands clenched tight around the dull metal. It was good she hadn't been using her monster strength, or else the headbands would be scraps of steel by now. And she couldn't afford that. The urge to pick up and keep those headbands explained themselves to her: it was the only thing left of the old Naruto.

But even that was scarred and not truly _Naruto's. _The scratch on both forehead protectors marred the iron beauty of what otherwise could've fantasized dreams about _'it might have been'._

Impossible.

The tears dried on her eyelashes as she remembered what Gaara had said, not a minute ago. _"For that, I thank you."_

_I thank you too, Naruto…for making me who I am today. For keeping me strong. For always being there for me._

_So this time, I'll be there for you._

She saw Naruto's eyes turn a blazing red and orange circles appear around them—the Sage state. Sakura drew her hand into a fist, zipping the weapons pouch closed for the last time, and got ready to kill her best friend.

_Sorry, Tsunade-sensei, but it looks like we're going to be getting a head start on Operation: Hunt Uzumaki Naruto!_

* * *

><p>Tsunade frowned.<p>

Strange. The feeling…was going away?

* * *

><p>Naruto slammed his fist into the wave of sand that poured up, blocking Gaara's face from his punch. The strike almost went all the way through too, with his Sage chakra enforcing it—his knuckles even peeking through the grains before they pushed back out. Naruto flipped in the air, moving so fast he disappeared once more.<p>

Maybe in some corner of his mind, Naruto knew he was being unreasonable. He couldn't very well just _give up _on the Akatsuki, could he, when they were sitting right there, like ducks on a bank waiting to be shot? They were practically _inviting _him to go over and kill them.

So why he didn't do that, and instead, went for Suna, he had no idea.

Naruto noticed his leg strike out before finding himself staring at the back of Gaara's head, trying to land another punch. How did he get here? It almost felt like… he was being controlled.

He didn't notice that the malicious intent had completely vanished—because it had grown too big to be contained.

"What may that thing be, Naruto?" Gaara suddenly asked, his sand still blocking Naruto's moves.

The blond was momentarily confused. _What thing? _Words bubbled out of his lips without his permission. It was not to say that he wouldn't have said that _himself, _but it was just a little weird to hear his voice speak without him consciously allowing it to.

"To kill _all _of you!"

Naruto's voice had deepened and was definitely more part growl than human. Gaara's eyes didn't change at all, upon hearing it. "So you think, _Kyuubi._ Forcing Naruto to do what you want… Despicable."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto snarled, back in control of himself. The earlier 'being-taken-over' thing never happened, in Naruto's book. "I'm doing this all on my own!"

"You are a true demon," Gaara said, continuing to speak the randomness Naruto couldn't understand. "That is why we cannot allow you to remain on this earth." The Suna shinobi behind Gaara still seemed in shock, because they hadn't moved an inch since Naruto had attacked their leader. Although, it _had _only been a minute, to their credit…

Naruto's voice did that weird speak-by-itself thingy again. "I'd like to see you _try, _weakling. None of you could kill me!" He felt more than saw—in Sage state, he could sense the chakra signatures, and the Akatsuki's were more than powerful—a blue-ish chakra launch itself toward him. Stupid Suna shinobi. Don't you know not to mess with a pissed off demon?

He reached out a hand, Rasengan already formed into it.

The ninja was dead the instant the chakra ball touched his heart.

Naruto casually side-stepped the body. What? Was his original plan _actually _to kill the Akatsuki?

How stupid.

How could he possibly have chosen that over his ex-teammates? Unthinkable.

Some might have argued that it was _unthinkable _how Naruto had had such a change of heart.

Others would have insisted—and they'd have been right—that it was because of the demon fox.

Naruto didn't notice what all his ex-teammates had as he streaked across the sand, abandoning Gaara, toward a familiar white-eyed girl.

They'd all noticed long before Naruto probably ever would…

That the Kyuubi was slowly gaining control over Naruto.

* * *

><p>"What the hell are you talking about?"<p>

"Why?" Nakami repeated, staring into Sasuke's eyes. Sometimes, it seemed like Nakami was either the loudest, brashest or most perceptive of them all. She always knew what to do. What to say. What buttons to press. Everything about her seemed to be laid out for the world to see.

So why was it that he got the absurd feeling that she was, in reality, hiding more than any of them ever could?

Sasuke ignored his thoughts, however, and stared at Nakami. "You want. To know. _Why_?" His anger still remained, full force. The way she stared at him—seeming to say 'isn't that what I just asked?'—just fueled that anger. "I already told you!"

The tone of her voice suddenly dropped about thirty degrees, frigidly icy. "You, Uchiha, count _an apology _as _why_? What kind of crappy answer is that, huh? An apology for five years ago—yeah right!" Nakami bit her lip to stop herself from saying more, only going on after taking a deep breath to calm herself. "I was your apology for that day, Sasuke. What do I have to say to make you talk?" she cried, frustrated. "Just tell. Me. Why. Oh. Maybe _this _is bothering you…?

"Listen, you big idiot. I _already know _your answer! I'm not making you tell me this because I want to hear it," the black haired girl hissed. Sasuke stared down at the hand around his wrist, holding it tightly enough to make bruises appear. He didn't wince. "You know why I'm doing this? So _you _know why. You and Naruto are a lot alike, you know that? Both of you have problems telling others _about _aforementioned problems. Believe me: this way, you tell me, you'll get a huge weight off your chest. You probably don't even realize it's been there. But it has. Looming over you—and that's why you had to come to me." Finally, she released his wrist, and that was only because Sasuke ripped it away like her hand was on fire.

_She really is like a freaking therapist. _But despite what his thoughts sounded like, he couldn't stop himself from saying the truth to the satisfied looking girl in front of him.

The only girl that Sasuke would—_could_—ever trust.

"I brought Naruto… _because I can't cut the bonds no matter how much I try_."

* * *

><p>Simply too amusing.<p>

It was like watching kittens play, really. Except kittens made Madara want to kill them. Not that this was really any different, right?

There was literally a streak of black in the air as Naruto abruptly disappeared from in front of Gaara. He wasn't worried, because with his Sharingan he could see the trail of sand as Naruto's feet skimmed over the earth—heading straight for Konoha.

Well, this worked out perfectly for Madara, yes, but he still felt a little insulted that the jinchuuriki didn't even consider them a threat. Or rather, the Kyuubi didn't, but on some subconscious level, the boy hidden inside did. Either way, he'd have a free show and watch the vessel wear himself out.

Hey, no one said Madara didn't fight dirty. Some extra help was always welcome.

"Hey, this is boring," White Zetsu whined. Apparently the Black side got the cloak this time (taking turns or something) so the other half was forced to improvise with the leaves connected to his body. Madara found both of them disgusting, but Black Zetsu was easier to tolerate, plain and simple.

The rest of the Akatsuki didn't stoop so low as to answer the question, instead opting to stare aimlessly out, ignoring the battle that was going on. They would come when they'd come. The 'army' couldn't very well stand and watch Naruto take out multiple Konoha-nins without doing _anything, _could they? It could be considered treason to a certain extent.

"Just watch," Madara instructed, smirking under his mask. "It'll be a good lesson on how the fox fights.

"After all, one can't have too many advantages over an enemy, especially one as idiotic as this one."

* * *

><p>Naruto appeared in front of Hinata, face inches away from hers. To the indigo-haired girl's credit, her face didn't flush red.<p>

But neither did it spew hate.

Akamaru automatically growled at the missing-nin. Naruto barely flicked his red eyes down before thrusting his palm toward the dog. It flung itself backwards a couple feet before skidding to a stop, whining.

"Akamaru!" Hinata cried, forgetting for one heart-stopping second about the danger directly in front of her.

Her mistake.

"Long time no see, Hinata…or maybe not that long, I guess," Naruto said, still smiling as he drove a hidden kunai into her stomach. Her eyes widened. Red stained her chin. The smile façade dropped once more, quickly, and a dangerous look in his eyes replaced it. "Don't you _dare _look away from me."

"N-Naruto-kun…" she choked. The rest of the Konoha 10 was frozen. Again. Why did they always freeze at the most inopportune times? Yet none could get their bodies to move.

Naruto's voice was more of a snarl than ever, her two words seeming to enrage him. Or rather—Kyuubi. "You still think that _pitiful _brat has any control over his own _body _now? You think I'm _Naruto?_" Her eyes told it all. "What a joke! You all are dumber than he ever was." The kunai came out with a weird _shluck _sound. "Can't you sense it? Use your eyes, Hyuuga. Tell me; is the chakra red or blue?" Hinata panted heavily, managing to get out one word, the word that always seemed to plague everyone.

"Why?"

"Why? Do I need a reason why? Maybe because I don't _want"—_the kunai found a new home buried in a random jounin's throat, piercing all the way through in N—or rather, the Kyuubi's—anger—"to be trapped in here! Maybe because I hate you all! And what the brat is too weak to do, even though he insists he's cut all bonds… well, I'm not too afraid to do it."

Kiba caught Hinata as she fell, snarling at the demon who'd taken over his friend's body. So _this _was why they'd all been so fearful…this was why they had to kill Uzumaki Naruto. "Do _what_ exactly?"

"Oh, dog-boy, you know what. You want to make me say it? Really? Fine then." Naru—no, it was the Nine-tails! Not his friend. Not anymore. As proven with the demon's next words:

_"I'm not too afraid to kill you all."_

* * *

><p>No…<p>

The feeling wasn't going away.

It only came back stronger.

Tsunade groaned as she read the message from a messenger hawk that had just flown in.

"Naruto… damn you."

A tear slid down the Hokage's cheek.

* * *

><p>A dozen Konoha-nins slammed like dominoes into each other, from the force of Naruto's gigantic Rasengan. Sage state was certainly useful, he observed as he wrecked havoc in the forces. Faster, stronger… Of course, this was the Kyuubi talking, so it didn't really make much of a difference to the demon. This was how it <em>should <em>be—the brat should be this strong naturally, in order to even be qualified to be a jinchuuriki.

Said brat was currently sleeping deep inside his own body, unconscious to the pain the Nine-tails was inflicting.

By now the others—meaning, Suna and the rest of the Konoha forces—had semi-organized themselves. It was as hard for Naruto as it was for his many opponents. Jutsus couldn't race out at random, because then they'd take the risk of hitting each other. The shinobi had to be _careful—_because they only had one target. So, it would be safe to say, it was easier for Naruto.

Sakura made a mental note as she punched the ground, forcing it to split open: If they failed to kill Naruto today, then later, they'd have to have smaller forces to actually take down the quick missing-nin.

In her heart, deep down, it still hurt. A lot. But if she chose to dwell on the fact that they were _killing Naruto _and not ridding the world of a demon, then she wouldn't get anything done.

So Sakura had to do what every good ninja should do: Seal off her emotions. Totally.

How could one kill, when one could still feel?

A few hapless jounin got caught in the crack, and Sakura felt slightly ashamed. She quickly dismissed it however when she saw Ino fall.

"Ino!" she shrieked, jumping over bodies to get to her friend. She was slumped on the ground, eyes closed, and for a moment, her heart seized. Then, Ino suddenly opened her eyes and grinned.

"Sorry, Billboard-brow, but I'm not dying yet."

Sakura would have growled, but instead, tears rose to her eyes. Ugh! Emotions! "Don't do that again, Ino," she whispered, hugging her friend.

The Yamanaka girl scoffed and pushed her away, standing up. "Don't get all emotional on me, Sakura! It was only a misplaced mind jutsu. I'll be fine." Seeing Sakura's worried face, however, she softened a bit. "I'll be fine," she repeated. "All I'm really worried about is—"

"How touching."

Both kunoichis looked up, horror on their faces, as …the _Kyuubi_…watched them. It was just so hard not to think of Naruto when she looked in his face, Sakura thought sadly. But Naruto had surrendered himself, no matter how temporarily. If this ever happened near a major village—then they'd be in serious trouble. Who knew how long the fox could keep itself in control?

"Watch out, Sakura!" Ino cried, shoving her friend out of the way. Sakura felt the whistle of a dozen kunai fly past her, barely missing her face. As it was, some of Sakura's hair got cut off from the sharp knives. "Pay attention. We can't afford to lose this fight!"

The Kyuubi grinned. "Yes, _Sa-kur-a_, listen to your friend." His voice sent shivers up Sakura's spine, and looking into his eyes _(red as the blood on her best friend's face)—_she could see no sign of who Naruto had been.

It scared her.

"As I said"—he flickered out of view—"Don't you dare take your eyes off me!"

Sakura felt another kunai appear at her throat, the demon's voice purring in her ear. "Because if you do, the last thing you'll see…is _red_." She stood frozen—_am I going to die? By Naruto? No, the demon. Remember—the demon!_

Strangely enough, she felt the Kyuubi go stiff behind her, the kunai dropping from his fingers. A quick flip away and a turn of her head rewarded her with the sight of Ino's body, again on the ground.

The fox was reaching shaking hands toward its own throat, eyes wide. "No…" it forced out. _"NO!" _

A burst of red chakra flamed out from the body, and Ino's eyes opened with a gasp. "Sakura! Get away!"

Automatically, she jumped back at the same time as Ino did. Lucky for them. Just as they cleared the small pocket where they'd been fighting, a circle of the fox's chakra _(red as blood and red as flames) _seared the earth. Whatever had been left of the Sage chakra vanished as the Kyuubi crouched on the ground—whiskers more pronounced, hair more like that of a beast.

Eyes redder than ever.

The same eyes bore promises of hate and death—evil and malice. "I'll get you for trying to control me! Me! Again! You think you can?" it growled. There seemed to be a double tone in the voice, echoing through the shinobi.

Whatever unlucky ninjas were unfortunate enough to be directly behind the fox were eliminated, immediately, as another wave of acrid, heat-inducing chakra demolished them.

Sakura felt the aftershocks of the attack hit her, blasting her hair back. It was strong enough to make a mini-sandstorm start, stabbing into the shinobi's skin. The Akatsuki were still simply standing there. Watching.

Never had Sakura felt so helpless.

Suddenly she found Sai standing next to her, eyes narrowed and scroll out, ready. A glance showed Shikamaru and Choji next to Ino; Neji, Lee, Tenten; Hinata, Kiba, Shino. Yamato-taichou tapped her shoulder from behind her, nodding his head.

The storm suddenly quieted as new grains of sand fought the old, forcing them back to the ground. Gaara appeared from the dusty aftermath, hands outstretched, no emotion whatsoever. Temari smirked from beside him, leaning on her fan, and Kankuro's puppets were unwrapped and ready to kill.

The helpless feeling vanished as quickly as it'd come.

_She wasn't alone. And while Naruto might be, isolated, by himself…_

"So troublesome," Shikamaru sighed, forming his hands into a seal. His friend, beside him, cracked his neck. Ino grinned, right back at Temari.

_Sakura certainly wasn't. And because of that…_

Neji activated his Byakugan, getting into the traditional Hyuuga stance, like Hinata. Tenten pulled a scroll easily from her back, and Lee was whooping in his usual hyper manner. Hinata had been healed, and while her eyes were regretful, her face showed that she knew what they had to do. Shino's bugs formed a steady buzz in the air, and Kiba hollered, "Bring it on!"

_Because of that, they could certainly kill the angry fox in the center of their circle._

_They weren't alone._

But Sakura couldn't help wondering:

_What is...loneliness?_

* * *

><p><strong>(1) The way his eyes looked when he faced Nagato in that hollow tree thing<strong>

**Tada. There it is. :) The chapter was a bit harder to write than normal, so apologies. Hope it was still good. So as a treat I'll put questions up! (Haha, treat..) What did Sasuke mean, bonds? What about Tsunade's feelings? What's the dreaded 'black-and-red' organization going to do now? Is Naruto really going to abandon the Akatsuki plan and kill his ex-teammates? What about Konoha? Are they going to kill Naruto?.! DUNDUNDUNDUNNNN So many unanswered questions!**

**Oh! I just remembered. Guess what? I'm working on a one-shot kinda thing…! (no romance again *tear*) but I'm going to try and post it. Soon. . . Before I go on vacation, duh. XD I'll tell you when I post it! (*laughs evilly and thinks about all the reviews I probably won't get* :P) It's about Halloween…cackle **_**Oh yeah!**_** One more thing. The following is an answer to a reviewer whose PM thing was disabled, so if you don't wanna read my random babbling, catch ya in the next chapter! ;)**

**Mattchew: I couldn't get to you, but I just wanted to let you know that your review made me laugh so hard! I was banging the arm of the couch I was laughing so hard ^-^; I don't know why, it just did… XP I love cliffhangers, don't I? Haha! –hugs–**

**If anyone's still reading… My awesome anonymous reviewers: LOVE YOU ALL TOOOO! **

**TBC!**


	12. Chapter Eleven

**A/N: I think you know who I am by now, so yup. Ooh, but tormented!Sasuke and evil!Naruto are just so much fun to write… hugs invisible plushies. As promised, not such a freaking long note as last chapter's end one… O.O **_**That**_** was long. Okay, stopping babbling. Enjoy chapter eleven in which I hope the answers will be—well, answered! Please note: Hinata did **_**not **_**die in the last chapter; Sakura healed her.**

**Disclaimer: Kidnap mode, activated. Put your hands up! Give me Naruto! NOW!**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Eleven<strong>

_Die in the path of the great Kyuubi/Before this war you will see me again, Naruto might as well be my friend! … I'm so close that I can taste it, give me this land so I can paint red/those who sleep shall remain dead… You need me, and my wisdom, this body is a short term prison! _–9 tails kyuubi by Eddie Rath (lyrics)

_Don't cry when the sun is gone, because the tears won't let you see the stars. _–Anonymous

"Reinforcements! Now!"

The Hokage was not someone to be underestimated, even when she wasn't angry. But when she _was _mad and therefore as unpredictable as a grizzly bear—well, let's just say you do everything she says to do, no questions asked.

And right now? Tsunade was _very _irritated.

Ninja scurried left and right, hauling supplies here, carrying weapons there. Even the civilians knew enough to stay in their homes today. The Academy's classes had been canceled, as Tsunade had ordered an emergency for the village.

Homura stood behind her, a deep frown on his face, as always. Only this time, it wasn't disapproving. "Tsunade," he said, for once letting go of the formality behind it, "are you sure this is the best choice?"

The blonde woman whipped around, hair flying behind her as she glared. Her gaze was strong enough to burn trees into ash; yet, the elder withstood it. Concern was in his eyes.

That was enough to make Tsunade pause for a second. Sighing, she rubbed the space between her eyes. "You ask me that now," she murmured. "Of all times, you really chose to ask me that _now_? _Now _you're concerned for Naruto? Wait."

Understanding lit on her features as Koharu, beside Homura, cut in.

"You mistake us, Tsunade-hime." She did not drop the '-hime'. "We are not looking out for the jinchuuriki, as you say. We are only looking out for Konoha. Going along with your plan right now ensures Konoha's safety, which is our top priority. Because Naruto is attacking so close to the Land of Fire, it would not look good if we didn't send reinforcements in."

Tsunade had turned back around, clenching her fists to stop from breaking the woman's neck. As it was, the iron railing between her hands creaked ominously. Of course that's what they wanted.

They had never cared for Naruto; never bothered enough to _know _him.

As soon as she trusted herself enough to speak again, she did. "Our appearance? Is that all you care about?" The Hokage had to work to keep her voice level and not let is rise like she wanted to.

"If it is what is most important right now, then yes," Homura answered. A slight note of shame was in his voice. He knew what it meant to Tsunade, but he couldn't go against his duty to the village. This was what it meant to be an elder. That was what it meant to be Hokage.

"Konoha is weak, Tsunade-hime. We are aware that a large part of why we remain stable is because of the jinchuuriki's corpses. If we should choose not to go in and help the ninja already there at Suna, this could be disastrous. Should Suna survive and seek vengeance on us, along with the Akatsuki and possibly the Kyuubi, Konoha would be devastated."

Tsunade hated that Koharu's words rang with truth. Yes, a chain of events could very well go off. _Appearance is all that matters in the end to them. _

One thing bothered her immensely though. "Naruto is not 'the Kyuubi'," she growled. "He is Naruto and Naruto alone."

The two elders walked away silently as Tsunade's shoulders shook once, and a few tears escaped her eyes. Angrily, she wiped them. What was she? A hormonal teenager?

For God's sake, no! She was the Hokage, and as Hokage…this was her duty.

Yet, Tsunade couldn't help wondering—if she'd never taken up this mantle, never grown so close to Naruto, never suffered this pain, would she have regretted it?

The only answer for her was yes.

* * *

><p>"Tch, stupid," Nakami sighed. Her posture seemed to relay weariness, but the smack to Sasuke's head soon proved otherwise. Her hand slammed into him with the force of a speeding boulder, reminding him eerily of what he'd heard the Hokage and Sakura could do.<p>

He didn't do anything so weak as cry out, but Sasuke tried to level her with one of his deadliest glares. Key word: _tried._

It did nothing.

That just infuriated Sasuke all the more, and he stood up to leave again. His legs tingled with complaint, having fallen asleep while he was sitting. That, coupled with Nakami forcefully (when had she grown so strong?) yanking him back down forced Sasuke to sit again, no matter how unwillingly.

"Don't be offended, Sasuke-chan," she teased, flopping onto her stomach. To be honest with himself, Sasuke sometimes couldn't keep up with Nakami's abrupt mood changes. She went from happy to sad to serious to happy again in a matter of minutes, like she was exchanging this mask for that one.

It disturbed Sasuke, but only slightly.

"You _are _offended, aren't you?" Nakami grinned. "I knew it! You're just an easily offended softie under all that coldness."

And what was it about Nakami that always made Sasuke want to punch her?

Oh, never mind, that was an easy answer.

"But really," she said, her eyes softening _(there she went again with the mood changes). _Nakami rested her chin on her folded hands, closing her eyes releasing a deep huff of air. "You're stupid, Sasuke. What about that was so hard to say? Does having bonds really make you weak?"

Nakami was suddenly bolt upright again, as if someone had struck her with lightning. Her eyes shone with the tell-tale sign of a memory—and Sasuke was instantly wary.

"I remember you saying something before, way-back-when. You don't remember, of course not, but… You said, _'I've already lost everything once before…I don't ever…want to watch my __**precious comrades **__die in front of me again.'_" Something tickled on the edge of Sasuke's mind, and he pushed it away. "Why don't you accept the memory, Sasuke?" Nakami's eyes closed again, and the memory pushed more insistently against his mind. "Do you not want to relive your embarrassment of that day with Naruto beating Gaara? Or is it something else? Are you _scared _of a time when you were—not good, because I still believe you're not past that, but when you had comrades you could count on?"

Sasuke sat frozen, and that let the memory overwhelm him. Orange all around him, the scent of sand heavy in the air, Temari's warnings ringing in his ears… A harsh shake of the head dispelled the memory, however.

To mask his unsettled feelings, he growled, "What's with you and questions? It's like you're trying to pry apart _my _life. _My _feelings."

"Ah, and that's where you are wrong. I'm not trying to pry apart your life—I'm trying to show you what your path is. Baby steps, Sasuke, baby steps," she chuckled, at some joke Sasuke didn't know.

Sasuke wished he hadn't left his sword over there. Having it handy next to him would make killing Nakami a whole lot easier.

Surprisingly, though, instead of teasing Sasuke more about the obvious killer intent filling the air, Nakami's face did another 180, becoming unbearably sad. Sasuke was taken aback, and his way of showing it was becoming utterly still.

"What happened to that, Sasuke? The precious comrades you didn't want to fall?" Sasuke opened his mouth to answer, the name already on his tongue. "Oh, wait. I know."

Nakami leaned forward, eyes darkened and serious for a change. _"Revenge. _See how dark it is, Sasuke? It should be a sin, really—it's darker than gluttony and greed, anyway. See how many it strays from their path, entangling them in its addictive thorns."

Something about her words _(the truth in them) _made Sasuke retort, "You're wrong. Itachi was—_is_—the reason I cut all the bonds—"

"You messed up, Sasuke. You didn't cut all the bonds; you said so yourself." Nakami leaned back then, and glanced at the flickering torch before slanting a look at Sasuke from the side of her eyes. "Besides, you wouldn't very well believe me," she muttered, "if I told you everything Itachi said, has done, was a lie, would you?"

"What?"

"Nothing," the girl sighed again, her eyes slipping shut. It unsettled Sasuke as she did that, and he realized why a moment later: her eyes were very much like the window to her soul. Without them, he couldn't read her anymore, and that scared him more than he wanted to admit.

_Just like Naruto, right? That's why you were so scared of him during that fight, _a sniveling voice in him hissed. This time, all the other voices remained silent.

Nakami's eyes were still shut as she whispered, "Nothing at all."

* * *

><p>Fear.<p>

Tangible, corrosive, frightening as it was, the Kyuubi reveled in it. The Kyuubi feasted on it. The Kyuubi _caused _it.

The fox didn't know fear.

And that was why he—perhaps, stupidly—snarled, "You think _you _can take me on? Just fourteen mediocre shinobi. There's nothing special about any of you, yet you stand before me like you really want to die." A choking laugh emerged from the Nine-tails, still crouched on the ground.

Despite what appearances might fool, the Kyuubi was not unaware of everything going around him. Rage and bloodlust took over most of his mind, yes, but there was a small part monitoring the environment around him too. Red eyes noticed every miniscule movement—mostly of the Akatsuki. He didn't need to watch the Suna and Konoha ninja. He could fight them with both hands behind his back. But as soon as the Akatsuki moved, he'd have problems.

A motion in his left eye brought him glaring straight at that annoying pink-haired girl. Sakura, was it? And near her, that blonde girl who'd tried to take over him. Make him kill himself!

Growls erupted from the Kyuubi's throat, low and menacing. He didn't take well to mind control, especially after Madara's Mangekyou Sharingan. Okay, it was decided. Pinkie and Blondie would die first.

Blondie because she'd tried to control him. Sakura because she had that damn expression on her face—of _pity. _And strength. Who did she think she was? She had no one; in a battle, self-preservation came first, then friends.

The Kyuubi noticed that the rest of the shinobi had backed off, letting the circle around the fox do the fighting. Cowards.

An apathetic voice from behind him spoke. He didn't bother turning around. The demon fox would know if the sand made a move at all. _This would be so much easier if I was normal size. _

"Suna. Konoha. Leave the fox to us"—no more 'Uzumaki Naruto's—"and go engage the Akatsuki." Most of the Konoha forces looked shocked, and Gaara quickly revised the sentence. "Don't kill them. Just make sure they're occupied so they cannot attack us."

The Kyuubi heard feet pattering as the ninja raced toward their deaths. He gave another laugh. "You really think they won't die?" he asked, genuinely curious. What went on in the heads of the Kages anyway? All so self-sacrificing, doing the best for their village…yadayada.

He really hated leaders.

What gave _them _the right to decide life and death? That was a demon's job and a demon's job only.

The fox was distracted when Gaara answered, the sand beginning to shift uneasily around him. "They might die," he said tonelessly, "but they will die for the village. Thus, they die happy knowing they are protecting the thing they love."

"Love," the demon instantly spat, feeling the burn of the word on his tongue. Red eyes flicked around, rage igniting in him, blazing brighter than ever. "What will they know of _love _as they perish, eaten by Zetsu or having their soul sucked out? What will they know of love as Madara traps them or Konan mummifies them?" A grin stretched across his face, mad and crazy. "Nothing. All they'll know is _fear._"

Chakra bubbled around the Kyuubi to create another tail. That was three already, and he could always add more chakra on later if need be. He doubted it though. _Weaklings. All of them._

Enough banter; talking never resolved anything. Bloodshed was a much more exciting prospect, and once more, the fox wished he was full size and not reduced to this short little human's body.

Oh well, patience, he reminded himself.

Soon enough. For something that's lived centuries, what was another thirty years? For surely Naruto would die young, as all excellent ninjas did…like the Fourth. Only Madara had ever defied statistics and dared remain well past his prime.

The Kyuubi's grin changed into a grimace, lips pulling back from sharpened teeth. Time to get this party started.

He vanished, leaving a mini-crater where he'd stood. Instantly the ninjas surrounding him tensed, scanning the area for the demon. Who would he come after first?

The fox suddenly appeared in front of Ino. "Bye-bye," he hissed, right arm coming forward in a deadly punch. Ino looked frozen, eyes wide in horror.

Luckily for her, Shikamaru was thinking fast. "Choji! Move Ino out of the way!" The other complied, grabbing his teammate around her waist and hauling her to the side. Meanwhile, the Nine-tails found, to his fury, he could not move. A quick glance to the ground showed a black shadow snaking from Shikamaru to him, connecting them. "Shadow possession jutsu: complete," the lazy boy said, a smile on his face despite the obvious strain showing in his eyes.

Already, he could feel the jutsu weakening, and the Kyuubi cracked his neck. "That won't stop me."

Shikamaru unexpectedly smirked. "No, it wouldn't, but it proves a very nice distraction."

Something slammed—not into the fox, but into one of his chakra tails, which had lifted to protect himself, the attacker sizzling before falling to the ground. Sand. So, Gaara had decided he had enough of watching.

"Ha, you think this is going to be easy? Look. Fourteen members, who probably have never worked together in their life, trying to take down me? You're going to harm yourselves more than me," the Kyuubi sneered.

"No, we never thought it'd be easy," Shikamaru replied back. Beads of sweat were forming on his forehead; he wouldn't be able to hold the shadow jutsu much longer. The fox decided both lazy-boy and blondie were annoying. "But we're uniting for a cause, and because of that, we _will _win. We're doing this for something stronger than your hatred."

The demon suddenly ripped himself free from the binding shadows, flipping and landing behind Gaara and his siblings. The incineration mark left from his crazy chakra killing before was right next to him, staining the sand. "And what is that?" the Kyuubi couldn't help ask.

Three attacks came at once—a barrage of weapons of all kinds, what looked like a black-and-white lion, and a sharp cutting blast of wind. _Heh, long-distance. They learned fast, _the fox thought.

Chakra gathered in his hands, blue and red mixing to form a strange purplish Rasengan… which just happened to be big enough that it deflected all three attacks effortlessly. The lion splashed down onto the sand, staining it even blacker than it already had been from the incineration; the weapons and the wind backfired, shooting back out at the throwers.

Temari canceled out the wind with another swipe of her fan, momentarily creating a tornado that quickly fizzled out of existence. Sai narrowed his eyes, quickly painting a dozen more lions and dragons onto his empty scroll. _This was harder than they expected, _he thought. _Who knew Naruto-kun could stoop so low?_

"What else?" the Kyuubi taunted. "Gonna try to attack me all at once? That won't work—a barrage of attacks never works."

"Glad you're so open with information," Kiba growled. "I'm going to get you back for hurting Akamaru!" He was crouched in a way similar to the Kyuubi, hands and feet on the ground.

The strategist amongst them snorted, holding out a hand. "Don't be so hasty, Kiba. He wants us to attack like that." Shikamaru's eyes flicked up to the demon who'd taken over their friend's body, assessing the way the fox held himself. "Still, being so open can really hurt you," he commented.

"Hurt me," the Nine-tails chuckled. The laughs slowly grew in noise, till it forced all of the shinobi—even the ones fighting the Akatsuki—to stop and stare. "You really are stupid, all of you!"

The fourteen ninja surrounding the demon tensed simultaneously as the chakra around him bubbled darkly. Sakura and Sai could only stare in horror, knowing what was coming next—Naruto's skin would peel off, and the chakra would disappear. Four-tails…

But they were wrong.

Instead, the chakra began to—what is seemed like to the naked eye, anyway—change color.

Darkening, not to an orange, but redder… With blue… It created a hazy shade of deadly purple, and the fox grinned wildly. "See this? The brat you call Naruto is _protecting _me. Before, I had to take control, forcefully, as Pinkie and Empty-head saw back with Orochimaru. Now?" A fourth tail emerged, as purple as the rest of the chakra. "I can take control whenever. Look how much Naruto's descended. Is he really the angel you all think he is?"

Once again moving with lightning-quick speed, the Kyuubi found himself staring in the face of Gaara. "Or…," he whispered, "has he fallen?"

Next the fox appeared in front of Shikamaru, licking his lips. "To answer you… you can never hurt me. The only person you'd hurt? Is _Naruto._ I wonder just how brave you all can pretend to be when you're faced with the task of killing him." The Kyuubi motioned toward the body hidden under the black cloak, miraculously not burning off with the chakra.

"Despite what you all say about _courage _and _bonds _and _sacrifices,_" the Nine-tails spat, looking disgusted, "you truly know nothing about them. How deep a bond truly is, lying in wait, will catch up with you…and fast." The last word was hissed into Sakura's face, the green eyes opening wide.

Then the fox reappeared in the center of the circle, right back where it had all started. "In the end, you won't be able to bring yourself to kill Naruto. Just like Uchiha… I warned him not to kill Naruto, because he'd regret it. And I extend that warning to you. You cannot hurt your _friend_."

"You like playing mind games," Shikamaru noted while his mind spun, trying to find a safe attack strategy. He knew all too well this could fall apart the instant they had an opening to kill …

_Not Naruto…not anymore._

_The fox._

In the end, all that mattered was _who _was killing the demon.

The Kyuubi raised a shoulder and let it drop. "You could say that," he purred. "See how the snake bites its own tail. In the end, it's your own idealisms that bind you. Ironic, isn't it, how the truth comes from the heartless monster who's never known love?"

This time, the smile that tugged at the Nine-tails' face seemed horrible. Cracking apart. Evil—insanity—craziness all spun in the burning red eyes set in their friend's face.

"Come at me with all you got… but it will _never _be enough," the Kyuubi snarled. "Because remember my words. You will never have the strength to kill Naruto!"

* * *

><p>The Akatsuki had no qualms about taking out the Suna and Konoha shinobi, even if <em>they <em>had orders not to kill. Paper fluttered left and right, and the orange hair of the Paths were a blur as they moved from one human to the next. White Zetsu was almost beside himself with the thought of the feast, and Black Zetsu was forced to merge once again to keep his other side in check. Others would find that the last thing they would ever see were the lethal red of Itachi's eyes.

Madara was the only one remaining still.

At first, he'd fought, but once it was clear that the rest of the Akatsuki could take care of themselves, he had hung back to watch the Kyuubi's show.

Oh, he had to admit, the fox in a human state was _much_ more entertaining than that brute gigantic beast he'd been forced to hypnotize. This way, the Nine-tails could talk, and wasn't that always so much more fun to know the thoughts of your opponent?

Apparently, Konoha wasn't thinking along the same lines as Madara. Their faces were tense and drawn, he observed with glee. Let them know pain. The way things were looking now, the fox would take care of everything for Madara.

Shame if he should kill _all _the ninjas surrounding him, though. Madara had wanted to leave some alive to feel the heartache when he destroyed their _friend._

_See pain._

_Know pain._

_Unleash pain._

See, while the Kyuubi gorged on fear, Madara thrived … on pain. Even more than Pein himself did.

Nothing gave him more pleasure than seeing his enemy weakened, knowing he would die but unable to stop it, in front of him. Especially if the opponent was broken in both mind, body, and soul. That was a rare treat.

But maybe, Madara thought, starting to get annoyed with how long the Kyuubi seemed to be taking to get rid of the shinobi—_did he inherit some of Naruto's softness?—_and the hot Suna sun beating down on his shoulders, it wouldn't be so bad if the fox wasn't sane.

Then, he would just crush all the ninja without a side thought, leaving himself open to be captured.

A _sane _fox would be cunning, cruel, knowing exactly what Madara wanted. Should they ever come to a truce, Madara had no doubt the Kyuubi would have a backstabbing plan ready for action.

Yes, insane foxes were better, he decided as he settled himself for the wait.

* * *

><p>Once more Tsunade found herself staring wistfully across Konoha, watching for something she would never retrieve. Forbidden to her, until it came for her in turn. Death had taken many already; what would one more be?<p>

And it would be so easy too. Just one step off this tower… Overdose of pills… Cut her wrists or throat, hang herself, poison… Human beings had too many ways to die. It was a wonder they survived this long already.

But she knew she couldn't take the easy way out like that. For one thing, Jiraiya would tease her to no end if she committed suicide, Tsunade thought wryly, a smile twisting her lips as she turned. For another, she had promised to protect this village. And Tsunade did _not _break promises.

Konoha was on its way to help Suna, and the village was still in lockdown. The sound of her footsteps were eerily loud in the empty Hokage Tower. This would be a perfect time for assassination, but Danzou was dead, so there was no threat from there.

_Do you really want to die so bad? _a voice in her asked.

Tsunade shoved that little voice aside with the force she'd used to beat Jiraiya up. It was just a thought. Not real. Unlike that stupid feeling.

Up till now, the feeling had been staying in the back of her mind. Not gone, but still keeping out of her way. Since Konoha had been deployed, however, it had come raging back full-force. She knew the troops wouldn't get there in time to do anything that mattered. From what stories had told her, the fox was brutal.

Complete massacre in seconds.

Tsunade hated to think that Naruto had such a deceiving, persuasive bastard sealed inside him. She wondered sometimes what Jiraiya's disciple had really been thinking, sealing the fox inside his son.

She broke the lock on the sake box with ease, eagerly greeting the sight of the rows of sake bottles lined up, neat and tight. "Mm, you'll always be here for me," the Hokage sighed, quickly downing the small bottle. Why didn't they come in larger forms?

"Everyone left," she moped, already feeling the alcohol go straight to her brain. Tsunade slumped in the chair of the office, rolling her eyes at Shizune's pitiful attempt at cleaning her desk.

Protecting the village, eh. Her thoughts returned to the subject of suicide. What would be left for Konoha if she died?

The answer came swift and harsh.

Nothing.

Naruto was gone, the Rokudaime Tsunade had always wanted. Konohamaru was really too young to be Hokage, and who else would be left? Kakashi was dead. Danzou was too, after his brief traitorous stint as Hokage.

The Naras would just be too lazy; Inuzukas too impulsive, the Yamanakas were for other purposes. Sakura wasn't cut out to think like a Hokage should—she was too soft. Hyuuga Neji, maybe. Not that bad a choice, but with everyone wanting to get the Byakugan, would Konoha really be safe?

Tsunade gave a humorless laugh. Why was she thinking about stuff like this _now_? It wasn't like she was going to _die _soon. Despite her thoughts of suicide, Tsunade never truly, seriously considered it.

To leave behind this village to fend for itself was too wicked. Only someone like Danzou would do that.

The Hokage swirled the sake in the new bottle she had grabbed, lazily watching it glow blue under the lights, like Naruto's eyes. Nope. She couldn't die. Tsunade had too many promises she had to keep. Promises… What were they? Hopes? Wishes? Empty dreams that would never be fulfilled?

She heaved a sigh, ready to fall asleep in the chair she was sitting in. Good thing it was an armchair. One thought echoed in her brain as sleep claimed her, haunting the nightmares she would forget by morning.

_But Naruto, what about you? Will you keep your promises?_

* * *

><p>"Okay," Shikamaru told them under his breath. He wasn't sure if he was speaking quietly enough that the fox wouldn't hear, but it didn't matter. Already Gaara was launching an attack to keep the pretense of fighting up while the rest made plans.<p>

"We know the demon is deadly once we get into his range," Neji interrupted, white eyes flicking around. "So that means Lee's, Choji's, Hinata's, Kiba's and my attacks will all be useless."

Shikamaru nodded tersely, fingers locking into his standard 'thinking position'. The ten faces around him—Temari and Kankuro were backing up Gaara—stared, waiting for their unanimous leader's judgment.

"Okay," he finally repeated. "Sakura, your strength really won't do any good here. It would just make more problems for our side, so you should be a medic for anyone who gets severely injured." The pink-haired girl nodded, knowing not to take anything Shikamaru said to the heart. It was all for the sake of killing Naruto.

She still couldn't believe that the Kyuubi had said all that though. _They _weren't the ones underestimating bonds—he was. He didn't know how strong ties truly were. As the fox had said—he was a cruel, heartless monster.

Shikamaru was still speaking. "We have to launch attacks right after another, to make this work. At least three jutsus at the same time, though, so he's occupied. Wait for the moment of weakness—"

"Excuse me," Lee said, looking solemn, "but what do Hinata-san, Neji, Kiba-kun, Choji-kun, and I do?"

The chunin nodded at Lee. "And there is our problem."

"Problem?" Neji echoed, looking distasteful.

"It would be best to work in the cells we're assigned to," Shikamaru continued as if Neji had never cut in. "Team 8, Team 10, Gaara and his siblings, so forth."

Neji didn't like being ignored. _"Problem?"_

"Yes, you are a _problem_," the other boy finally snapped, glaring at the Hyuuga. "You'll only get in our way."

Kiba huffed indignantly, but Choji just shrugged, accepting it. Where were his chips when he needed them?

"So what do you propose we do then?" Neji also obviously didn't like being told he was unnecessary.

"Go fight the Akatsuki," Shikamaru suggested, looking for all the world like he wanted to be cloud-watching. "Our troops aren't exactly winning." He cracked his knuckles then, facing the Kyuubi again. "Besides, reinforcements are coming. All we have to do…"

"…is keep the Nine-tails occupied," finished Ino, reading Shikamaru's mind.

He nodded, almost lazily. "I hope you've been working on your teamwork, because we're going to need every drop of it." Shikamaru focused on the scene before them.

Gaara's sand was losing against the acidic looking purple chakra. While it _was _renewable, easily, chakra wasn't. The Kazekage glared over at the huddle of Konoha shinobi. "Are you coming to help or not?" Cuts of wind scattered the sand even more, and Kankuro's puppets were dancing on the edge, looking for an opening in.

"We're coming," Shikamaru grumbled. "Retreat your sand. Ino, let's try this again."

Choji looked left out, but Kiba and Hinata quickly pulled him, Neji, and Lee toward the Akatsuki. "W-we'll do more there anyway," Hinata said quietly, not looking at the fox.

He wasn't anyone they knew. Not anymore.

"Shadow possession jutsu!" Shadows snaked its way toward the fox, who sneered and jumped out of the way. The next few _(too long) _seconds involved Shikamaru chasing the Kyuubi with his shadow—but he was too fast.

Suddenly a swarm of bugs descended on the fox, automatically beginning to suck away the chakra. Shino knew they wouldn't do any long-term damage against the demon, but held it in place long enough for the shadows to wind their way around the fox. Then Ino quickly formed her mind seal and entered the Kyuubi's mind.

It shocked her.

The first time, it'd been manageable. The Kyuubi wasn't as caught up in bloodlust as he was now. In his mind, the world was a dyed red, and Ino found herself facing a set of gold bars—and deep within the cage lay Naruto, looking asleep to the world.

"Naruto!" she cried before abruptly finding herself face-to-face with a snarling orange fox-face.

**"_You don't belong in here!"_**

Sakura watched as Ino's body shuddered and her blue eyes opened, looking horrified. "He's gone…" she whispered. The medic-nin frowned and quickly put her hands over Ino's head, a green light encasing them. "He's gone," Ino mumbled again.

"Shh, you're delirious," Sakura murmured. When she was done, Ino was unconscious again. Sakura wiped her forehead, glancing toward the raging purple figure in the center of the circle. What was her friend talking about?

The next few hours whirled by too fast for Sakura to really pay attention. Her job was healing, and that she did. The demon fox was really too dangerous—no wonder it had taken out half of Konoha. Jutsus flew by at a speed and organization that left her wondering. To an outsider, it would've seemed like the shinobi fighting the fox had worked together their entire lives, and not just this random instant.

But still…

Nothing was getting through to the fox. His defenses were almost as impenetrable as Neji's because of the chakra that seemed to have a mind of its own. Sand was deflected, wind, puppets smashed, bugs crushed, shadows easily broken out of. If anything, the attacks just seemed to make the Kyuubi madder.

It all happened in one second—one quick, unbelievable second.

Actually, _three _things happened in that second.

First of all, the Konoha ninjas seemed to realize that this wasn't working—and unanimously, they all launched an attack at once. Driving toward the demon with the force of a hurricane.

Then, the Nine-tails winked into existence right in front of Sakura, who'd been tending Neji. He had just effortlessly dodged all the attacks, and by now five tails were waving behind the fox's body. Without batting an eyelash, it grabbed Sakura's throat, lifting her into the air. "You're annoying," he—no, _it_ _(saying he would imply that the demon had feelings) _growled. "The boy is far too attached to you. So you must die."

And the fingers had started to close—and Sakura couldn't move. Couldn't do anything as she stared into the face she'd thought she'd know. Really, how well had she known Naruto?

The rest of the shinobi were giving shouts and starting to charge toward the two, as if in slow motion. Sakura knew it was futile… nothing could stop the fox now. And as she looked into the red eyes that she thought would be the last thing she ever saw _(no remorse at all in that gaze)_—

The third thing happened.

* * *

><p>Naruto had been counting on sleeping, a lot.<p>

Somewhere deep inside himself, though, he found himself stirring. Stretching. The minute his eyes flashed open, he knew something was wrong. Terribly wrong. Pink suddenly flashed in front of his eyes. _Sakura? What was going on?_

The last thing he remembered was yelling at Gaara—then nothing. Blank. _Sleep._

Already, the almost irresistible tug of darkness was beckoning. _Sleep. Welcome the numbness. Forget everything… Forget everything in this dark, dark sleep. _Naruto sharply shook his head. No. He couldn't forget everything—there was something he _had _to remember—

Ah!

Pain, searing and hot, ripped up his side. The darkness instantly fell away, replaced by burning agony. What was this? Some new jutsu? He screamed.

Throughout this, Naruto had realized he was submerged in some kind of water, suspiciously like the water in the Kyuubi's cage. It was nice water—_before _the pain started. Now it just felt like it was suffocating Naruto.

Frantically, he clawed his way toward the surface.

* * *

><p>The Kyuubi's eyes opened wide, Madara's katana <em>(where in the hell had he gotten one of those? From an ANBU?) <em>sticking out of his side.

Blood dripped from the wound, fizzling out of existence before ever reaching the soil. The demon coughed, dark liquid smacking into the purple chakra, only to disappear without a trace. The hand around Sakura's throat weakened, and not just because of the pain.

No! The stupid brat was coming back! He thought he'd suppressed him, keeping him in the water.

_Must be the pain, _he thought, wincing. No. Naruto couldn't take over again—it would be deadly for both of them. Already, the wound was beginning to close, but it couldn't fully heal with the sword still sticking out from his body.

Madara stood a few feet away, smirking. The rest of the Konoha ninja stared in shock at the figure that'd appeared out of nowhere, eyes bouncing from Madara to the still form of the Kyuubi like bobbleheads.

"Damn…you—Madara," the Nine-tails choked, grabbing the sword with difficulty. One hand was still around Sakura's throat, her face disbelieving and scared, but it was steadily getting weaker. Every second that ticked by, he could feel more blood draining out and Naruto coming back in control.

"You were taking too long," Madara replied, chuckling. Blue began to leak back into the terrible red eyes, and finally, the kunoichi slid from his slack fingers to hit the ground.

"Why?" Sakura whispered. _That word again._

Madara strode to the Kyuubi's side, taking the katana easily from the demon's grasp, and sliding it out with a _shluck _sound. All of the ninja present winced. "You should be grateful. You've been spared the task of killing him."

The purple chakra was sucked away, leaving a woozy Naruto behind. The demon had departed. Naruto's eyes landed on Sakura in front of him, and his eyes widened—his blue, blue eyes.

"_Sakura—chan—" _

The words were cut off by another mouthful of blood, and Naruto's legs gave out. Eyes closing, he started to fall to the side.

He never hit the ground.

Madara easily caught the exhausted jinchuuriki, slinging him over his shoulder in one swift move. "I'll be seeing you, then," he called before—just like that—disappearing in a whirl of air. The rest of the Akatsuki quickly followed suit, vanishing like they'd never been there at all.

The fourteen original shinobi stared, stunned, at the space where their friend had been taken away.

Something told all of them that they wouldn't see Naruto again.

* * *

><p><strong>HAHA! I'M EVIL! Lol… BUT WHOO! This is now the second-longest chapter. Randomness: Does anyone ever wonder if Kakashi's face, under that mask, is all pale and ghostly? It never sees sun, does it? O.o Also last week's—714—Naruto Ship episode didn't come out! *sob* They hate us. I know it. Oh, a word in advance: I'm going to this sleepaway camp in which COMPUTERS AREN'T ALLOWED (stupid) next, next week. So updates=later… :(**

**TBC!**


	13. Chapter Twelve

**A/N: … What should I say this time? Oh—this will be the last update for a whole WEEK! O_O Yeah, I know. I didn't leave yet! And…that's it. Also, in case anyone's wondering, this WILL NOT be a deathfic (for Naruto, at least) because he can't die! He's awesome! (Little Sasuke drama finally finishes in this chapter *whew* Please note Sasuke parts are happening at a different time than the rest of the world)**

**Warning: I'm very evil at the end of this chapter. You'll see why. I know I should be nicer, since I'm leaving for a week, but… I'M NOT! MWAHAHAHA! *is shot***

**Disclaimer: You gotta be kidding me. Why do I even put a disclaimer? Oh yeah, so the cops don't arrest me…**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Twelve<strong>

_Never explain yourself. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe it. _–Belgicia Howell

_We all lose friends… we lose them in death, to distance and over time. But even though they may be lost, hope is not. The key is to keep them in your heart, and when the time is right, you can pick up friendship right where you left off. Even the lost find their way home when you leave the lights on._ –Amy Marie Walz

The wind blew across the empty desert plains, desolate and devoid of any sign of life.

Including the Akatsuki.

Kiba was the first to break the deafening silence that threatened to drown them in its dark waves. "We have to go after them!"

He immediately whistled and Akamaru ran up, barking. Kiba was about to run off to who knew where when Shino's hand suddenly blocked his way. "Hey, man," Kiba said angrily, "we have to go get Naruto!"

Shino's head was covered with a hood, as always, and his eyes were shaded by his sunglasses. Nobody could ever tell what he was thinking. It wasn't any different now.

"It is the Akatsuki, Kiba. We are not strong enough on our own to face them right now," Shino said in his low voice. "We could not even take down Naruto."

"We have to wait," Shikamaru agreed, hands in pockets. "As much as it pains me to admit it, we're gonna have to sit tight at Suna until Hokage-sama gives us a new mission." Kiba opened his mouth to argue again, and Shikamaru quickly added, "Plus, we have to help the injured and bury the dead. You can't just run off on your own yet."

Finally, Kiba was defeated, and he slumped down onto the ground. "You—I …It's like I _have _to go after him though," he muttered, hands in hair.

Akamaru whined next to him, also flopping on the ground.

"Don't I know it," Shikamaru mumbled. "Don't I know it."

It would a be a dishonor for the memory of their friend to die at the hands of someone like the Akatsuki. So while what Shikamaru had said was true, he also knew the Hokage would issue the order to hunt Naruto down.

He was waiting for the order.

Ninjas all around the area were slowly picking themselves up, checking for injuries, looking for friends. Some sobs rang out over the sand, but most knew enough not to cry.

Show no feelings, for that is the ultimate ninja rule.

Ino had her arms around Sakura, both of them with tears on their cheeks. Hinata was by Neji, her face drawn but tearless. Shino helped Kiba up again, and the Kazekage and his siblings were slowly making their way through their own ranks.

Tenten was by Lee, who was yelling about youth and how they would find Naruto without fail! Chouji had, surprisingly, dragged Shikamaru over to Sai and were helping the black-haired boy pick up his supplies. Suddenly, that gave Shikamaru an idea.

"Hey Sai," he called, grabbing a blank scroll from the ground.

Sai looked up, face blank. "Yes?"

"Send a message to the Hokage, will you? Tell her about Naruto and the Akatsuki; ask what we should do now."

Sai nodded, grabbing a spare brush from his weapons pouch and uncapping the top of the scroll. Dipping the brush in the ink, he quickly painted a small, falcon-like bird. "Ninja art," he said, hands in a seal, "Super Beasts Imitation Picture."

The bird didn't grow humongous like most of Sai's creations did. Instead, it stayed small and therefore, easily missed.

Without further ado, the bird flapped its wings and soared off into the sky, toward Konoha.

Sai watched the ink bird leave before saying, "It should get there in a couple hours. My messenger birds don't tire easily."

Shikamaru nodded, closing his eyes as medic-nins began pouring onto the battlefield. "I just hope we get a good answer."

The next few hours were spent busily carrying ninjas here and there. Sakura had been forced to lie down, because of the chakra burns around her throat. She seemed to be a state of mild shock, reported one of the medics.

The rest of the Konoha 10 were given rooms to stay in, and free movement of Suna. As Chouji and Shikamaru were walking to their shared room, the former asked curiously, "Hey, Shikamaru, what _were _we fighting for that was stronger than the fox's hatred?"

Shikamaru opened his eyes, a grin lifting one corner of his lips. "Oh, that."

The teenager shrugged slightly, hand on the doorknob. "We're protecting the king of our village."

"Really?" Chouji seemed surprised. "I'd have thought you'd say something like love."

Heh. "One can't really have love when you're a ninja. But loyalty is another matter, and sometimes…" Shikamaru trailed off, flopping on a bed the color of cream.

_Sometimes, the loyalty you feel is stronger than love ever can be._

* * *

><p>A couple days later, Gaara found himself, once again, standing at the entrance to Suna.<p>

This time, it was so he could greet the new Konoha forces.

"Kazekage-sama!" said the ANBU at the very head, breathless from the running. "Are we too late?" Gaara just inclined his head. The ANBU quickly bowed, hand over heart. "We are very sorry."

"It's fine," Gaara replied, turning. "Come. You must be tired." The ANBU—who was evidently the leader—quickly matched Gaara's pace, his black hood still up and white mask covering the face.

Gaara sensed that the ANBU captain was hesitating; he evidently wanted to ask a question. "What is it?"

The ANBU didn't start, but his bird-mask did turn to look at Gaara. "Not to be rude, Kazekage-sama, but …" The ANBU winced then. "What was the death count?"

He knew that the ANBU would want to know that. After all, Konoha-nins had been killed too. Gaara continued walking for a while without answering, and the other seemed to accept it. Just as the ANBU was ready to fall back with the other Konoha-nins, Gaara spoke.

"We lost only a few shinobi…"

The ANBU breathed a silent sigh of relief, only to stiffen when he heard Gaara's next words.

"But I'd say," Gaara continued, sweeping into his village, "the greatest lost of all was Naruto."

Gaara walked away then, leaving the ANBU to the capable hands of Temari and Kankuro. They would know what to do. As he walked back toward the tower, he frowned, thoughts spiraling toward the strange message he had received yesterday.

_What had the Hokage been talking about? Being the operation? When had someone even told her about the condition here? _

Not that Gaara wasn't _going _to tell her, but he'd been waiting for the right chance. This was _not _the right time, and that was why he was going to destroy it soon.

Suddenly, a flash appeared next to Gaara. The mask covered the ANBU's face, but Gaara could tell from his voice that he was panicked. "Kazekage-sama!"

"What is it?"

"The Konoha-nins…they're missing!"

Gaara stopped dead in the street, not caring that he narrowly caused a momentary traffic jam. A sudden memory of the scroll, left open sitting on Gaara's desk flashed through his mind. "Which ones?" Gaara forced out, even though he knew the answer.

"The ones staying at the main building. What should we do? Go after them?"

Gaara shook his head, sighing. "They're only doing their mission. I guess I should leave this one to them," he said, dismissing the ANBU.

Sure enough, when he got back to his office, the scroll on his desk was gone.

* * *

><p>Naruto woke to the sound of dripping.<p>

Of course—it was always water, drippingdripping_dripping. _God, Naruto hated that sound, because it only made him all the more aware of the ache in his sides and the pounding of his heart.

Now, Naruto didn't get scared easily. Not anymore. The Kyuubi's immunity to fear had started to wear off on him. But in this particular situation, finding himself tied up and left on the floor of a cave sent tingles running over his body, making his heart beat even faster.

What didn't help was the fact that the fox had gone noticeably quiet. Usually, Naruto could sense the demon harboring just out of his mind's reach, watching. Waiting.

Today, however, at this moment…

There was nothing.

It worried Naruto more than he wanted to admit, so he closed his eyes and burrowed into his mind, splashing through the pipe/sewer corridor. The more he walked, the worse the feeling in his stomach got. It was a heavy feeling—what was it called?

Oh yes. Dread.

Finally, Naruto ended up running, kicking up waves of ankle-deep water. There! The opening to the room—his heart thumped—he ran faster—reached the entryway—ducked in—

Naruto froze, staring at the cage. It looked just a normal as before. Maybe the seal a tad more ripped, the bars a little less shiny, but it looked completely the same.

However, the occupant of the cage did not. The Kyuubi himself wasn't snarling and at the brink of charging out like he usually was. Instead, the demon fox seemed…

Subdued.

Naruto walked closer, examining the fox, unconsciously trying to move as quietly as possible. The Kyuubi didn't stir, breathing steadily, curled up in the corner of his cage. Naruto finally reached the bars and that was when he knew. The Nine-tails was truly asleep. _Asleep. _

That would explain why his wound wasn't healing, Naruto realized as his eyes shot open. It wasn't bleeding, but there was still a light scab over it. Too much movement and it _would _begin bleeding again.

Naruto growled softly. He hadn't known just how much he'd relied on the Kyuubi's presence until now. It had grown to be a comfort over the years, knowing he wasn't really alone. Even if his only company was a demon fox.

_You rely too much on something that isn't yours!_

Looks like you were right after all, Sasuke, Naruto thought wryly as he effortlessly sat up, assessing his surroundings.

His hands were tied behind his back, securely enough that he wouldn't escape—but like every good criminal—loose enough that he still had circulation. Same with his ankles and knees. A quick glance around showed him in a cave. _Oh, why is it always caves? _he groaned mentally.

Naruto's stomach let out a grumble, whining that it was hungry. How long had he been out? He was mildly surprised to find that he was still alive…after all, hadn't he been taken by Madara?

His thoughts were interrupted when a creaking sound met his ears. Naruto's instincts forced him to try and turn his head completely around.

Unfortunately, humans are not built like owls, and he ended up flat on his side. His _injured _side - although both side were injured, so either way it would've been pointless.

"Ow," Naruto moaned, as sticky liquid began seeping through his shirt. Someone had removed his jacket and cloak, too—probably the same someone who had bandaged him up. "Crap."

The creaking sound came again, along with a quiet _bang_. Like a door closing, which was exactly what it was, Naruto found out as the blue-haired Akatsuki member came into view.

In her hand was a bowl of rice. Just a plain old bowl of _rice. _Naruto was vaguely disappointed, he had to admit. I mean, they were Akatsuki! Legends practically! And all they could afford was rice?

The bowl clinked on the stone floor in front of Naruto, and he heard another noise. Soft, suppressed…almost like … laughter?

His blue eyes raised to Konan, who was kneeling in front of him, a smile on her lips. "Did you just laugh?" Naruto asked warily, as the Akatsuki member moved behind him to untie his wrists. As soon as they were free, he rubbed them to get rid of the soreness, still keeping an eye on Konan.

She took her while to answer, handing Naruto a pair of chopsticks before speaking. "We aren't emotionless, you know," she said softly, leaning against the wall.

Naruto made a 'hmph?' sound—roughly translated into 'are you sure about that?'—as he filled his cheeks with food, without giving a second thought to whether it might've been poisoned or not.

"Everyone must have one shred of humanity buried deep in them," Konan continued, "or else they would not be humans. They would have no control at all, slaughtering all without a thought. You do not see anyone like that around, do you?" she asked, giving a pointed look at Naruto.

He swallowed, an idea occurring to him. "That must mean…the demon fox isn't human?"

Naruto didn't really care how weird it was that he was talking to an Akatsuki. Eat first, plan later, was his motto.

Konan gave that soft, suppressed laugh again, gold eyes shining a little in the damp of the cave. To think of it—where was the light coming from anyway? Naruto took a break from stuffing his face to glance around the cavern again. It seemed to glow from the ceiling itself, little glows blinking on and off.

"Fireflies," Konan answered his soundless question. "Really pretty, aren't they?"

A small buzzing light detached itself from the roof to flit over to Konan. She reached out a finger and it landed gracefully before flying back to the ceiling. "The fox is definitely not human. That is why he is a demon, after all. And that brings me to why I am here."

Naruto felt the abrupt urge to joke about it. He squashed the urge mercilessly.

_Why would I want to joke with an AKATSUKI member? That's like flirting with death. _

It must be the food. The fact that they might have sedated Naruto's food dawned upon him now. His eyebrows furrowed together. Oh well. They wouldn't kill him—not yet, not when Konan still had a reason for being here.

"Think carefully before you answer, jinchuuriki, because you will only have one chance. Wrong answer—death." Her face was deadly serious.

Naruto gulped, nodding. Food lodged heavily in his stomach, filling him with the warmness of being full. Starving was terrible; Naruto had starved once when he'd been snowed in, and he'd felt like he'd nearly died.

Right. Back to Konan.

"The fox is perhaps the most evil of all the Bijuu, even worse than Shukaku and the Sanbi. He is what you would call a menace. Unleashed upon the world, he is unstoppable. So you understand why we must seal him away." It wasn't a question, and Naruto was allowed no answer. "For the safety of this land you've sworn to protect. The fox will be used for the greater good—world peace." (1)

Why was this all making sense? Naruto wondered. The Akatsuki's evil! Don't listen to them—her—

But Konan's soft voice carried on, reaching deep into his head. "We ask you sacrifice yourself, without a fight, jinchuuriki. After that, we will even deliver your body back to Konoha, so they may do what they please to it. Don't you want your precious village to be forever safe?"

Well, a part of Naruto began, that _is _what we wanted… But to give up the Kyuubi? asked another part.

Give up the only one who had truly been by Naruto's side, the entire time?

Was that possible?

That sniveling voice from the dream, such a long time ago at Nakami's cave, came back. _You won't be alone long. As soon as the Kyuubi is taken out, you die. And then you're not alone at all…or completely alone. Depends where you go after death, I suppose. Can a demon go to heaven?_

All the conflicting voices began rising in volume, arguing with each other. _Protect Konoha! But then you'll be alone!—no, you'll just be dead…what about Konoha? Loneliness? Death? Protecting?_

Augh…Naruto gripped his head, staring down at the floor. There was that squeak again—the door was opening. Huh, the bowl was gone—that meant Konan was too. When had she left? Oh yeah, just then… was it just then? Or an hour ago? A day ago? Muddled thoughts raced around his mind along with the voices that were steadily giving Naruto a migraine.

Konan's voice startled him, making Naruto jump. Blue snapped up to meet gold. "Think about it, Naruto, for a little. When I come back…" The door that Naruto hadn't noticed before began to close.

"I hope you choose the right answer."

* * *

><p>"Well!" the girl said brightly, standing up swiftly. She had somehow grabbed Sasuke's hand and forcefully tugged him up too.<p>

Sasuke yanked his hand back and winced. Any harder and Nakami would've dislocated his arm. Sasuke stalked over to the overturned table and grabbed his sword, sliding it into his belt.

"That wasn't too bad, Sasuke-kun, was it?" she teased, a smile on her lips. Cryptic words were forgotten for the moment.

_For you, maybe not, _Sasuke thought. He was _not _visiting her for a long, long, LONG time after this. "I'm going to Suna." Nakami just gave him that quiet little look before walking to the boulder. What was that supposed to mean? Sasuke wondered, his eye twitching.

Nakami smirked unexpectedly, bowing from the waist. "Come again, Sasuke," she said. "I've done my duty for now." The boulder slid aside, but Sasuke didn't go through.

"Was there a point to this conversation?" Sasuke finally asked.

"Oh yes," Nakami grinned—smile so big that her eyes closed. "First of all, I'm delaying you from getting to the Akatsuki in time! Naruto going insane is already bad enough without you and your revenge too."

Sasuke's eye twitched again. Of course.

"And second of all…" One black eye lazily opened, making it seem like Nakami was winking, if not for the deadly look in her eyes. "This is all for everything you left."

She leaned back against the boulder, finally opening both eyes. "Konoha, your sensei, your teammates… _Naruto. _This is so you remember what exactly you left, what you abandoned the way your clan abandoned you. Now that everyone's on their own paths, what will they do when they see you again?"

Nakami pushed off the rock, seeming unable to stay still. Her hand found a new home fisted in Sasuke's shirt, dragging his face toward her. The deadly look was still there in her eyes.

"You say you can't sever your bonds," she hissed. "Well, then, let's see you _do _something about that!" Suddenly, Sasuke found himself through the opening. Nakami had flipped him completely around and was pushing him through it without stepping across the threshold herself.

"Oh, and," Nakami added, forcing Sasuke to stop and stare unemotionally back, "when I say you can't sever your bonds, that doesn't give you a free-for-all kill everyone ticket."

Her black eyes grew darker than ever before as she finished: "I mean you go settle things with Naruto. Once and for all."

"Hn," was all the answer Sasuke gave, not wanting to give away the fact that the look in Nakami's eyes was starting to disturb him.

"Because…if you kill him… _I will destroy you._" The words were spoken so softly that Sasuke thought he'd maybe mistaken them for something else—but his hearing was perfect.

Like everything else about him.

And he wasn't about to start listening to some suddenly bratty _conscience-sharer._

"Say what you want," he replied, walking forward into the darkness of the tunnel.

Sasuke knew Nakami was still watching him, her eyes burning a whole into his back. "I still believe what I've said before though…Personal ties cause confusion… Precious memories only make you _weak. _No matter what else you say about me and bonds."

Birds chirped as a blinding light suddenly illuminated the tunnel, and this time the door was completely blasted apart.

Nakami watched with a satisfied little smile on her lips, her expression not unlike the cat who's eaten the canary. With a touch, the boulder slid back into place.

Her job was indeed finished—for now. Sasuke had begun to doubt himself, and Naruto was starting to know the whole truth of it all. The pieces were in place…

Nakami bent and gathered up the jars that had spilled on the floor, carefully dusting them off.

…It wouldn't be long…

She righted the table and began to work on another concoction, like Sasuke had never barged in. But Nakami's eyes were red and spinning as she observed the events occurring at Suna.

…Not long, not anymore, until the pieces start moving…

* * *

><p>Eleven shadows landed about a hundred feet away from the walls of Suna, each sending up a little puff of sand.<p>

They straightened immediately and as one, glanced toward the village just a little distance away. "Will we be safe here?" asked Ino, her hair hidden under her hood. Everyone had on matching black cloaks with hoods, courtesy of the ANBU storage-room.

"Safe enough," Neji answered, his Byakugan activated. "They aren't coming after us… wait. An ANBU just stopped by Gaara."

The rest of them waited tensely as Neji focused on a spot no one else could see—well, except Hinata, but she wasn't using her Byakugan.

Finally, Neji's shoulders dropped, and a silent breath of air escaped him. Automatically, everyone else relaxed too. "I couldn't make out the exact words, but they left. I don't think they're going to come after us," he reported. Everyone had been healed, to some degree, though Neji and Sakura still sported bandages.

Said pink-haired girl was quiet, staying by Sai and not speaking for once. That alone was strange, because she was usually in the center of everything…

Especially if it had to do with Naruto.

Hinata wasn't the only one shooting side glances at Sakura, expression hidden under the shadow of her hood. If anyone had seen that expression, they would've been stunned.

It wasn't empty, or even crying. In fact, there were no trace of tears on her face at all. The only thing on Sakura's mind was anger.

Exactly who did the Akatsuki think they were? Gods?.!

Kiba huffed impatiently, leg swinging as he perched on Akamaru. "Can we go then? We got permission from the Hokage!"

"Even if we weren't really supposed to see it," Shino tacked on. Kiba glared at his teammate.

"Hey, no one needs to know that part!"

"Kiba, spill it," Tenten ordered, hands on hips.

Lee popped up out of nowhere, giving a thumbs up. "Don't be shy, Kiba-kun! We are all friends and will stand by you no matter what!"

The dog-lover made a face. "Sure, Lee."

You see, this was how it had happened. Kiba, growing bored of Shino, decided to wander around the Tower foolishly, looking for entertainment. Shino had followed him, because he couldn't just let Kiba stick his nose in everything. Then Kiba suddenly smelled something and shot off like a rocket, disappearing into the Kazekage's office. Shino had hurried after Kiba, only to find that the Inuzuka was sniffing a suspicious scroll on the desk.

Shino had quickly pulled Kiba away, but the other had yelled, "I smelled Konoha on it! It's from Tsunade! Read it!" and had promptly shoved the scroll into Shino's hands, occupying the teenager so Kiba himself could escape.

While Kiba had probably been using the scroll as a run away plan, it really _had _been from Tsunade. On it, it'd said:

_Gaara,_

_I have received your message. I… am saddened by the way things turned out with Naruto. It could have been so different, if he only had stayed…_

_But I'm not here to tell you that. I am here to tell you to pass along a new mission for the Konoha 10 and Sai—tell them Operation: Hunt Uzumaki Naruto is now officially under way. With the Akatsuki on the loose, and with Naruto in their hands, I have no doubt they may not even get there in time._

_However, I have reason to believe that the Akatsuki won't try and extract the Kyuubi immediately from Naruto. So this is why the Konoha 10 must act immediately. _

_I trust you to pass it on,_

_Tsunade_

_Fifth Hokage_

"Oi, that did not happen!" Kiba complained as Shino finished the story. "I was looking for Akamaru! He was in Suna's vet place or something, and I was _not _bored, okay—"

"Shut up," a multitude of voices chorused at once.

Kiba shut up.

"B-but I'm confused," Hinata said. She looked slightly taken aback when everyone focused on her at once, but pushed through the surprise.

"Wh-what message did the Kazekage send Hokage-sama?"

Sai smiled. "That was me."

Everyone but Chouji and Shikamaru gaped at the artist. "Sorry, was it important? I guess I should have said so sooner then…"

"Baka!" Ino yelled, smacking Sai's head. Sai ducked and popped right back up, still smiling. But then his gaze traveled to Sakura and the fake smile dropped. The kunoichi was shaking slightly, fists trembling. "Hey, Sakura?" Ino asked.

The rest of the Konoha shinobi clustered closer to Sakura, peering worriedly at their teammate. "You okay?"

Abruptly, Sakura's head tilted up, and the hood fell back to reveal a dangerous smile. "What are you all waiting for? We've got a friend to save."

Kiba let out a whoop and was about to charge away when Shino's hand stopped him yet again. This time, it was on the back of Kiba's cloak, effectively choking him momentarily. "S—Shino—dying—"

"Hmph, we don't know where to go yet though," Shikamaru grumbled, spreading a map (also _borrowed _from the Kazekage's office) of the land near Suna onto the ground. "I think the Akatsuki is near here, but where? They would be underground or in a cave, because it's too hot to stay in the open…" His voice trailed off.

"Well, should they not be near a water source?" Lee asked. Soon the rest of the ninjas were caught up in the conversation, wondering where the best place was to begin.

Ino nudged her friend, grinning. "Glad you're all hyped up and eager to kill, Billboard-brow."

The words were meant to tease, but Sakura's face fell unexpectedly. Ino peered into her friend's face, blue eyes questioning. "Sakura?"

"We're not killing Naruto," she finally said, green eyes darkening.

"Ah, but that's what Operation: Hunt Uzumaki Naruto is." Ino held up both hands, trying to placate her friend. "The Hokage's orders, remember? You voted yes yourself-"

"We're not killing Naruto," Sakura repeated again, hands curling into even tighter fists. Ino was about to call for the others when Sakura said, "We're _saving _him."

Ino's grin slowly spread across her face again. "That's the spirit, Sakura!"

After ten minutes, Shikamaru—who was still the unanimous leader—reached a decision. "They have to be at least a mile away, no more than that, because the teleportation jutsu only takes you so far." He rolled up the map, ignoring the fact that the Akatsuki might very well have just teleported again and again.

"Therefore," he continued, "we need good scouting people on each group. There's eleven of us, twelve with Akamaru"—he added quickly after Kiba's dirty look—"so that means four groups. I want at least three people in each group." Shikamaru nodded toward Neji, who proceeded to hand out comm. units to each ninja.

"And just where did you get these?" Tenten asked suspiciously, eyeing the little black device.

"Borrowed," Kiba and Neji said at the same time.

"Hey now," the Inuzuka growled, "_I'm _the one who got them."

Neji looked bored, and strapped his comm. unit on. "So what? We just spoke at the same time is all." Kiba didn't look satisfied, but a gesture from Shikamaru stopped him from arguing some more.

"You know the procedure. Call if you find anything, _don't act on your own _no matter what." Shikamaru's eyes narrowed as he assessed the group, sweating in the sun.

Already, he was regretting having worn black cloaks. While they masked their identity, it was _boiling _in them. That's what they got for helping Suna, he supposed.

"Okay. The teams will be Kiba, Akamaru, and Tenten. Kiba's a good tracker, and Tenten's long distance while Kiba is short. It works," Shikamaru said, effectively cutting off any possible objections from Kiba. "Sorry, but you will have to be separated. You, Hinata, Neji, and Shino are all trackers." Shikamaru then turned to Neji. "You, Neji, will be with me and Hinata." Neji nodded.

Shikamaru pointed to Sai. "You can take to the air, so you will be with Sakura and Ino."

"YOSH!"

Lee's yell made everyone jump. "Then I am to be with Shino-kun and Chouji-kun, correct?" Shikamaru nodded. "Neji! May we have a contest over who finds the Akatsuki hideout first!" Lee declared. Neji's face made it clear what his answer would be. "But Neji, think of the glory." Lee attempted to cajole Neji into agreeing while Shikamaru glanced at everyone else.

"Got the groups? I know we all will be working with people we haven't really worked with before, but we have to make it work. This is the best way."

The shinobi began moving amongst themselves, organizing formations and exchanging chakra pills, food, water, and the like.

"Yo," Kiba told Tenten. She smiled back, patting her scrolls. Akamaru barked.

Sai put on his fake grin again. "I'm truly lucky. I get to work with Beautiful here and Ugly." Seconds later, he was on the ground with two rising bumps in his head. Ino had long since figured out that beautiful equaled ugly in Sai's book.

Lee was enthusiastically—momentarily giving up on Neji—greeting Shino and Chouji, who was checking his snack level. Shino stood wordlessly, a few bugs creeping onto his hand.

Hinata also smiled, tentatively, at Neji, who nodded back. Shikamaru stretched, wishing he had sunglasses like Shino did. The sun's glare was harsh, but it was almost sunset, so they should be fine. Seeing that everyone had pretty much gotten organized, Shikamaru whistled.

"Lastly, we're looking for caves, tunnels, anything like that. It will probably be covered with a genjutsu; people on your team should be able to deal with that"—Sakura, Shino, Hinata, Neji, and Kiba could just use his nose—"and remember—no fighting anyone."

Shikamaru glanced toward the sun as it slid toward its resting place. The moon was beginning to peep out, yellow and bright. Full moon, good.

"It's going to be nighttime soon. We don't want to engage them at night, so for now our objective is finding the hideout, quick as possible. Got it?" Shikamaru asked.

"Understood!"

Moments later, all that was left of the meeting were a scuffle of footprints in the sand, soon erased by the howling wind. There would be no tracks of the Konoha shinobi today…

And whether that would be a good thing or not, only fate knew.

Far away, a raven with red eyes flew toward the setting sun.

* * *

><p>Itachi wordlessly lifted his arm, and the raven flew in from the cave entrance to perch on the pale skin.<p>

The bird was sucked soundlessly into his skin, once again becoming part of Itachi's essence.

"Well?"

Itachi raised his gaze, red as ever, to look at Madara. "Konoha is moving… They are trying to find us."

"Hm," Madara said. They were in the same cave as before, fire and all. "Predictable fools." His glove-clad fingers tapped against his mask, and his voice seemed almost thoughtful, as if this was actually a choice or not. "Should we let Konoha come here? Battle for Naruto? Or extract the beast and let them find the vessel's corpse?"

Konan was in the corner with the Paths, folding little origami angels. Upon hearing '_extract the beast_' her head shot up; but her voice was even. "You said you'd give the boy a choice."

"You should know both Madara's choices mean death for the jinchuuriki," the Deva Path said. "It's a matter of whether the boy goes willingly or not."

"He's right!" Madara sounded happy. "It just makes it so much harder if he's unwilling, don't you think? So much energy wasted."

"You already know what you're going to do about the Konoha shinobi." It wasn't a question.

Madara's gaze flicked to Itachi's. "Yes, you're right…" He steepled his fingers. "That is why we are predators—we have control."

Everyone could practically taste the tension between the two Uchihas. It was only broken when White Zetsu suddenly cried, "I still don't get it! Why couldn't _I _have gone scouting? Staying in this cave is bo-ring."

The moment was broken as Black Zetsu hissed, "You know why, idiot. You're too conspicuous. A raven was bad enough—black in the desert?"

"See? That's why I go—I'm white!"

Black Zetsu refrained from hitting his other side, if only because he'd be hurting himself too.

Madara glanced at the only woman in the Akatsuki. "Konan. Go check on our little guest now…his answer is of importance; do not let him forget that." She stood silently and went to the iron door—courtesy of a genjutsu—slipping in.

"Have you made up your mind?" Konan asked. "Have you chosen the right choice?"

* * *

><p>Naruto didn't remember falling asleep again, but apparently he had after Konan left. He woke to find his cheek pressed onto the cold earth.<p>

He groaned, lifting himself up. His hands had been retied, and his left arm was numb; it had fallen asleep. Both of his sides ached, a distinct remembrance of the katana Madara had used.

His situation hit Naruto in the face again as his eyes focused on the cave walls around him. Kyuubi—sleeping for unknown reasons. The Akatsuki—wanting him to give up Kyuubi.

His head hurt, it really did.

Thoughts spun in Naruto's head, as things began explaining themselves to him. Ah. So that was the path he had to pick, wasn't it? Promises were promises, after all… How much would it hurt to give them up?

Hours passed, or maybe just a few minutes. It didn't matter—Naruto knew what his answer to Konan would be.

So when she came in through the door, asking, "Have you made up your mind? Have you chosen the right choice?" Naruto had his answer ready.

"I want…"

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Spoiler: Remember, Madara didn't tell anyone about his creepy giant statue plan … if you know what I'm talking about… T_T<strong>

**DON'T KILL ME! -cowers- Ooh! I'm going to be putting my one-shot kinda thing up in a few days, before I go to that dumb camp, so you better be watching for it! *threatens with a baseball bat* XD joking! I really wish I can respond to my anonymous reviewers, but that's why they're anonymous… sob. Heh randomness will rule the world! CHYA! **

**See everyone in a week or so! P.S. Watch Tsubasa, Reservoir Chronicles… it's addicting… O_o**

**TBC!**


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**A/N: Have you missed me? *is slapped* I guess not… Hehe sorry for leaving such a weird cliffhanger and the looong wait! You can run along and read about the Akatsuki and Naruto and all that stuff now XD Camp was so much fun though! CYLC rocks! ^0^ Check out the videos on YouTube! YAH! lol also sorry no long chapter this time…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, that much should be obvious—I'm writing fanfiction, aren't I?**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Thirteen<strong>

_Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice. _–Woodrow T. Wilson

_A demon?—I prefer the term fallen angel. _–Bloody Mallory

"I want...to keep protecting Konoha!"

Naruto's blue eyes burned fiercely, and Konan smiled. "Good answer, Naru—"

Her eyes widened as a hand clamped around her throat, tight and squeezing. Instinctively her mouth opened and she gasped in little puffs of air, as her gaze met the Kyuubi vessel's. Konan's back hit the wall, and she instantly regretted shutting the door, therefore effectively sealing any escape.

"I said I want to keep protecting Konoha, but I'm not going to _die _to do it," he growled. At that moment, Konan could honestly believe that Naruto thought he could escape.

Just for that moment, though.

Because the next second, she turned to paper and was sliding under the crack in the door. Konan could already hear Naruto working on a Rasengan, so the thin barrier wouldn't last long.

Before she even reformed all the way, she was shouting, "The jinchuuriki is coming!"

Instantly the Paths were around the door, being the automatic first layer of defense. Zetsu was outside, being the guard for them, and Madara was lazily standing up. "He's so unpredictable," he sighed. Itachi didn't say anything, preferring to lean against the wall.

Just as Konan reformed, the door blasted outward with a shrieking squeal. A blur leaped through the hole, kicking a Path's face in as he jumped through. The same Path grabbed Naruto's ankle and jerked, sending the jinchuuriki to the ground.

The clone disappeared in a poof of smoke just as the rest of the door was blasted off its hinges, effectively smashing into another Path.

A dozen more clones poured out, and Madara had to say he was slightly impressed. The boy had good planning skills, when he chose to use that head and not the heart.

But it wouldn't be enough, he continued, watching as all the clones were wiped out in a matter of seconds by the iron poles of Pein. It would never be enough, because they were Akatsuki and he was just a jinchuuriki.

Not to mention, a jinchuuriki whose beast was currently deep in slumber.

The Deva Path had grabbed the real Naruto, who to his credit didn't look scared at all. Instead an impudent look remained on that scarred face, and Madara suddenly felt the urge to wipe it off.

Instead, he chose to walk slowly toward the trapped teenager, deliberately.

_Prey and predator..._

_Who is the real predator now, I wonder?_

"You've been eluding us the past year," Madara said, eyes glowing. Naruto's lips twisted in a smirk.

"Glad to see you're healthy as ever, Madara," he spat. "Guess I didn't blind you after all." His gaze traveled to the stump of Madara's arm, and he grinned. "Handicapped you, though."

His head was jerked to the side a moment later as Madara's uninjured hand slapped his face.

The bruise didn't heal immediately, and a trickle of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Naruto glared at Madara, arms still trapped behind him uncomfortably tightly. The Path wasn't giving any chance of an escape, and while Naruto could see the night sky just a few tantalizing yards away, he knew he wouldn't reach it in time.

_You rely too much on something that isn't yours…_

The words kept coming back to haunt him. Naruto shook his head as if to clear them out, but it just made his head spin slightly as he was reminded of his wounds.

"Anything we do to you, you won't heal automatically." It was a fact.

"But you won't do anything to me," Naruto said boldly. Too boldly, he knew, as Madara's eyes suddenly gained a sadistic glint. The Uchiha stepped closer, till they were barely three inches apart. Ephemeral as the glint had been, the cold aura emanating from the man was infinitely more scary.

"You're wrong. We only need you alive. It doesn't matter whether you're healthy or on the cusp of death." Madara finally leaned back, and Naruto let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.

His smart-mouth quickly fired back an answer, before Naruto's brain could check it. "Then what are you going to do now? Pet me and send me back into my cage?"

"That wouldn't be satisfying at all. No," Madara hissed, as the Path suddenly twisted Naruto's arm brutally. The jinchuuriki didn't scream, but his face drew tight with pain and a low hiss escaped his clenched teeth. "Torture is much, much better. Wouldn't you agree, Naruto?"

"You're insane," the blonde gasped back as soon as he could breathe. "You know that? Freaking. Insane." His eyes glittered dangerously.

"And you can't do anything," the Uchiha answered back calmly. "Just how strong is your will, really? How far are you willing to go for the people you used to call friends? The ones that you attacked? The ones that are coming here right now?"

The widening of Naruto's eyes were all that Madara needed to know that he'd struck gold.

"Yes, _Naruto_"—he made his name sound like something you'd find stuck on the bottom of a shoe—"your precious friends are coming to die. Their deaths. All because they believe that you're worth saving." The Paths were suddenly closer, too close, at some unseen signal. "But both you and I know that you're not. You're a demon, nothing more, nothing less."

Madara then turned his back on the prisoner, walking toward the entrance of the cave. "Break him; don't hurt him too much though. Not yet. He needs to feel the pain of having his closest ones die, and then, maybe he'll go along with our plan." _My plan. _

Before he stepped out into the cool night air, he said one last statement that caused Naruto's heart to twist sickeningly. "You know, Naruto, this would have all been so much less painful if you'd just given up like a good little boy. Instead, you had to fight back. Angels are really no good when they fall, you should know by now. Who were you trying to save?

"Because," Madara whispered to himself as he walked away from the strangled screams of pain starting to come from the cave, "all you'll ever be is a demon. And demons cannot ever repent for their many sins."

* * *

><p>"Sai, how is everything from your view?"<p>

Sakura's voice buzzed through Sai's earpiece, and he twisted his head to catch a blur of pink running on the ground.

"Fine," he answered, refocusing his gaze on the expanse of brown rolling before him. There were quite a few pretty patterns on the sand, actually, and Sai's fingers itched to capture the beauty. "Real pretty and refreshing."

"You know that's not what I meant," Sakura's voice replied, exasperated. He could hear Ino's laugh echoing in his ear.

Sai shrugged, guiding his ink bird left. "There's nothing suspicious either, no shimmering waves concealing a genjutsu, no traps…nothing at all."

Sakura sighed, and he could feel her disappointment despite being a good hundred feet up. "We're almost to the end of our mile. We should start heading back." Sai hummed in agreement and offered once again to take them on his bird. Sakura declined politely, and as a single movement the three turned to face back where they'd come from.

* * *

><p>They left heavy footprints on the sand, a seemingly distinct trail before disappearing in a gust of wind.<p>

Tenten tossed another kunai into the ground.

Kiba glanced back at her, frustration clear in his voice. Tenten wasn't a bad partner, not at all, but she was kinda getting on his nerves with her weapon throwing.

"I told you, we won't get lost! Akamaru's nose is perfect. We'll find our way back no problem!"

Tenten glared heatedly back before sticking a shuriken into the ground. "I don't care," she answered.

Kiba swore that the girl would've tossed her hair if it wasn't in two buns. "You're just wasting weapons."

"I have a bunch."

"Seriously! The scent's clear as day. We won't get lost, I swear!"

"So? It's better to be safe than sorry, right?"

"Gah! You're so—"

"Well so are you!"

Kiba was opening his mouth to retort when suddenly, Akamaru whined. The boy's attention was instantly on his dog, who whined again. Kiba sniffed and stiffened.

"I smell blood," he whispered.

Tenten's fingers stopped mid-throw, and she cocked her head. "Where's it coming from, dog-boy?"

"Oh, not you too," Kiba snapped before sniffing again. Akamaru shook his head. "Coming from … north-east, I'd say. It's close too. Another hundred feet and even you could smell it."

The weapons-mistress chose to ignore the slight insult in favor of asking, "Should I alert the others?" Time to set aside differences and work towards the common goal.

"Yeah. Tell them follow your"—Kiba's face contorted into a grimace—"_weapons trail._"

"Ha! I knew it was good for something. Glad you didn't stop me now?" Tenten grinned at Kiba's tortured expression. The kid obviously didn't like being proven wrong, she thought as she touched the comm. unit.

"This is Tenten, repeat, this is Tenten." The other made a face, and Tenten stuck out her tongue in reply as static crackled in her ear before a voice lazily broke through.

"Yeah? Did you find something?"

Tenten narrowed her eyes as a sudden gust of wind blew. "Yes. There's a strong scent of blood coming, north-east from our current position." It was getting awfully cold at night in the desert, a part of her noted, as she shivered.

Shikamaru instantly sounded more alert. "Don't do anything."

"We know," Kiba interrupted, rolling his eyes despite the fact that Shikamaru couldn't see him. "We're not _dumb_."

There was skeptical silence on the end.

"I'm not dumb," Tenten finally said, "but who knows about you?"

"Hey!"

"Okay, don't do anything," Shikamaru repeated again. "I'm going to send in Lee's team to help you; they're the closest. I want you to get a little closer and see if it's really the Akatsuki or just a bust." Both agreed, and the units went dead again.

A bit of quiet ensued before Kiba muttered, "So we just _wait _here until the other team comes?"

"I guess," Tenten said, plopping down onto the sand. Her eyes wandered over the stars etched in the deep navy sky. Kiba soon joined her. Akamaru refused to relax, every muscle tense and ready.

"I wonder what he senses." Kiba looked curiously at the dog. "Other than the blood, I can't tell anything else. Not even chakra. Come on, boy, relax a bit. The others will be here fast," he cajoled.

Akamaru refused to relax, and didn't even when the reinforcements arrived.

* * *

><p>Shikamaru sighed, closing his eyes, only to open them again when Hinata asked, "What did Kiba-kun say?"<p>

"He said they found traces of blood in the air, so I sent Lee's group to go help them." Shikamaru rubbed the area in-between his eyes, turning around and starting to trudge back the way they came from. "So I guess we'll be heading back, since there's nothing out here and wait to see if Kiba's group finds anything."

Neji nodded and took the lead again, Byakugan still activated. It was better to be safe and cautious than foolish and unprotected.

* * *

><p>Naruto slumped on the cold floor of the cave, the chill a welcome now. It helped soothe the burn in his arms and cheek.<p>

They hadn't done anything to his legs, really, except a few minor cuts and slashes. Same for his back and stomach. The only places the Paths had really focused on were his arms and face.

Naruto could already feel the black eye appearing, and he knew both cheeks were swollen from punches. They had stuck mostly to taijutsu, no genjutsus or ninjutsu. He guessed they wanted to break his body, not his mind.

He couldn't really tell which was the better choice. Physical pain? Or mental?

Rolling over, he held in a hiss of pain as his arm screamed uncomfortably. Yeah. They'd definitely dislocated the shoulder of his left arm. Naruto could feel stickiness staining his shirt again, the wounds in his side reopened.

At this rate, they'd never get a chance to heal, he thought wryly as his eyes blurrily began to focus. A few blinks later, Naruto could see the fireflies.

After what seemed like an eternity of beating, the Paths had dumped him in his 'cage' again. They couldn't really replace the door, so now Naruto had guards.

His breath whooshed out from him again, and his eyes slid shut tiredly. Naruto didn't—wouldn't—regret his decision to fight though.

What kind of protector would he be if he had to die to protect Konoha?

A pretty damn terrible one.

The cave floor felt rough under his back as Naruto's thoughts began wandering dangerously toward the direction of Konoha.

He couldn't forget Madara's words either. _Angels are really no good when they fall… _Who _was _I trying to save? My pride? Konoha? Myself? Sasuke? The Kyuubi? It was all so blurred, just like that line between good and evil. Naruto couldn't make sense of the why or who or what anymore.

Pain was still beating on the edges of his conscience. Naruto hadn't had to experience pain often, because recently the Kyuubi had been healing his every wound. He hadn't had to deal with pain.

And that, Naruto realized, had been his weakness.

A truly perfect shinobi has no weaknesses, nothing he's ever been shielded from, be it insults or love or pain. That way, he knows everything and can expect everything. A fortress with no openings.

A small smile turned the corners of Naruto's lips up, and a tiny laugh forced its way out of his throat. How ironic. Would he actually die in here, by the Akatsuki, after all? That would be a terrible way to go…

But fitting for a demon, wouldn't it?

And then that brought other questions, like _why? _Why would his ex-teammates, the people he'd turned his back on—abandoned—try and come for him? What was he to them? He'd left them, tried to kill them even!

For some reason, that brought Sasuke to mind suddenly. Sasuke had tried to kill Naruto. He'd left Konoha for power without a backward glance. No amount of talking or fighting could've brought him back, because back then, Naruto had been weak.

Then, if you really thought about it, Naruto and Sasuke weren't all that different at all. No, not at all.

Naruto had left the village—to try and protect Konoha. But a small part of him had also left…to grow stronger. Isn't that what every ninja wants?

Sasuke had left the village—to become an avenger. And also grow stronger.

Naruto had tried to kill the people he'd once called precious.

Sasuke had tried to kill Naruto, the one he'd called his best friend, to obtain the Mangekyou.

Naruto had left because he'd been scared of losing more precious people.

Sasuke had left because he'd been scared of Naruto growing stronger than him; that he'd never obtain his dream of revenge.

"Heh…Sasuke…" Naruto whispered, eyes still closed. "We're both…so weak. We could never face our fears straight-on, could we? Only when it came to each other, and even then, we would always shy away from the actual fight. We're no different at all."

That darkness tugged at the corners of his mind again, urging him to sleep and rest. And this time, Naruto obliged. Sleep was always welcome, because it was an easy way to escape reality.

The instant he closed his eyes, he found himself in a dark place. There was no light whatsoever, and Naruto tensed instinctively, braced for an attack. When none came, he relaxed a bit, and was surprised to find all his injuries gone.

Naruto flexed his fingers. No pain. Never had he been so relieved to be rid of the burning agony. But then—his sight was gone. Was this some kind of trade? No pain for darkness?

A beam of light abruptly struck the ground next to him, creating a sort of spotlight. Naruto jumped back, fingers already twining into the first seal for shadow clones, when a familiar chuckle sounded.

A figure materialized in the light. Like heat waves, it wavered before becoming solid. Naruto leaned forward, ready to greet...

Himself?

He reeled back as quickly as he had leaned forward, shock written across his face. Naruto had never seen himself when he was influenced by the Kyuubi's chakra, but he could guess that this was how he looked.

Red eyes with slits for pupils. Thick whiskers, shaggy hair. Fangs. _Evil._

"Why are you here?" Naruto asked, because it was the only thing he could ask.

The other Naruto smiled, but not what you would call a nice smile either. "I would say 'I should be asking that'… Although I called you here, after all, so I guess I'll answer. Come here." He beckoned a hand that had claws as nails.

Naruto hesitantly stepped forward, still cautious. Was this a dream, then, maybe?

"Closer. I won't bite," the other coaxed, that sly smile still perched on his lips. "Now, you're probably wondering where this is, who I am, why are you here… Well, this is a dream, you could say. Refer to me as Kyuubi; it'll make things easier."

"Kyuubi?" Naruto echoed. "But…you look like—"

"You? There's a reason for that. I don't have much time before they come to wake you, so listen, brat." Naruto screwed up his face. It was just so weird to hear someone who was the mirror image of you call you 'brat'.

Kyuubi laughed again. Naruto was struck by how much he'd changed. _When did I start referring the demon as he? When did I start needing the fox? When did I start not fearing the Nine-tails' cold laugh, but welcoming it?_

_Where's the line between good and evil?_

"You've realized that my real body is asleep, right? Most of my mind is too, in fact. Just this little piece escaped Madara's genjutsu."

Kyuubi pulled back his teeth, contorting his face in anger. It was palpable, the rage. "Again! It must've been while we were unconscious, or just waking up. Wait till I wake up. Madara's _dead._"

"Why are you here, then?" Naruto asked.

Kyuubi drew in a deep breath, calming his expression. When he opened his burning red eyes again, his gaze was calm. "To tell you to wake me up. I can't stay for long, because my power is waning too, the longer I stay here. Not to mention they'll be coming for you soon."

He paced forward a little, before saying, "This place is a part of your mind. I'm here to warn you about your little friends coming to save you."

He stopped and stared dead into Naruto's eyes. "And when I mean save you, I mean rescue you from the Akatsuki…and then kill you."

Naruto didn't say anything.

"I'm sure you know that already though, with Nakami's _help _and all." The distaste in his tone made it clear that the Kyuubi didn't favor her very much. "Without my help, you're lost. You know about your weakness and pain. They know too, and they'll use whatever they have—which is a lot—against you. And despite how detached you think you are, when they slaughter your former teammates, it _will _affect you."

Disgust was on Kyuubi's face. "You decided to leave here, which is a choice I actually approve of. But I'm telling you, wake me up, and then _run. _Do not go after your Konoha friends. Do not warn them. Do not tell them you're free.

"Because," he hissed, "if you do, you're done for anyway."

For the first time in a while, Naruto felt incredulous at the Kyuubi's orders. Usually he followed whatever he told him to do, because it was the safer route. But now…

Kyuubi was telling him to _leave _his friends _to die. _Run away. Like a coward. "You're telling me to just—!"

"What I'm telling you is for you. This one time, I am not doing anything that will end up better for me." Looking into those red eyes, Naruto could just almost believe him. "If you tell them, and find them, they have orders to kill you. Then you'll be forced to kill them, if only in self-defense."

The lower half of Kyuubi's body wavered. "My time is growing short, so hurry and listen. If you do not wake me, you have no chance of escaping, and therefore, you'll watch your ex-teammates die before you die yourself."

This time, his lower torso started to shimmer. "I gave you your only two choices. To wake me, you must either defeat Madara or grow angry enough that it automatically brings me back." His legs faded completely out of existence, before the rest of his body began following suit.

"What will you do? Choices are difficult to make, but remember…that is the true meaning of being a _ninja._" The fox faded completely, with a sneer on his face.

The beam of light also trickled away, leaving Naruto in darkness as he stared at the place Kyuubi had been.

"Of course…" he finally said, voice loud in the dark. Laughter started to bubble up. "He had to leave like that. On that note."

_But what will you choose? _a part of him whispered. _Die by the hands of your friends, or watch them die before dying yourself?_

Naruto was jerked awake by a sharp kick in his sides, the pain flaring up abruptly and forcing a short scream out from his lips. Madara stood over him, tall and imposing.

"Are you ready to see how strong you truly are, jinchuuriki? How much longer can you last without breaking, I wonder?" Naruto could almost feel the smirk radiating from Madara. "It doesn't matter, anyway."

His gloved hand wrapped around Naruto's left arm, making more pain shoot up to his dislocated shoulder. Deliberately, Madara hauled him up and tossed him over his shoulder.

"Whether we break you mentally or physically, you won't be able to stand the sight of your friends dying. Weak. Pathetic. Tied down by bonds, I don't know how you ever thought you could protect Konoha."

Naruto was vaguely aware of being tossed onto—not the hard floor of the cave, but a soft feeling. Sand?

All he could see in his swimming vision, the only thing that was in focus, was Madara's orange mask. "And now you'll be aware of how much you failed when you die. You couldn't protect your friends, you couldn't protect your village, you couldn't bring Sasuke back.

"You know what?" Madara sneered, his coat flaring in the sudden wind. Red blood was still sluggishly pumping out from Naruto's sides. "You are the true definition of failure. A jinchuuriki should be strong and proud. But you…"

Madara turned, letting the Paths flock around Naruto again. "I don't know what to call you, other than a failure."

_What will you choose?_

A red haze began edging in on Naruto's vision, which had suddenly become crystal clear.

_Well maybe this time, fox…_

He might be weak, and he might still be tied down by bonds—but if there was one thing Naruto wasn't… He was not a failure!

_Maybe this time? I'll make my own choice. Just like how I made my own choice with Konan… this time, I won't give up the people I must protect just so I can live._

_But I won't die either._

Rage burned in his stomach, and slowly, orange chakra began leaking out from the seal on Naruto's stomach. Madara stopped dead before slowly turning around, the Paths scattering backward.

Naruto was shakily standing up, gaze half-red and half-blue. The chakra was slowly but surely covering him like armor.

"Impossible," Madara breathed.

_This time, I'll carve my own path. _

Naruto snarled, hands curling into claws, the mirror image of the person who'd visited him barely five minutes ago. Kyuubi. "You're dead, Madara!" His voice almost sounded like there were two of him, except one voice was deep and not quite human.

He lunged.

Madara smiled instead of looking afraid. "What makes you think, demon, that you'll be any different? What makes you think that you can save everyone? What makes you think you'll be the hero?"

He stepped lithely to the side as the orange blur went flying past. "Tell me, Naruto, how can demons save everyone, when they can't even save themselves?"

* * *

><p>Lee arrived at Kiba's location a mere ten minutes after Shikamaru had instructed him to go there. Shino and Chouji on the other hand were a bit later.<p>

"You run…so fast…" Chouji panted as he braced both hands on his knees. Sweat beaded on his face only to freeze in the cool night air.

"If it is to come to our friends' aid, we must run fast!" Lee declared.

"Sure, Lee," Tenten sighed. "So, you're our backup to investigate?" Shino nodded, silently. "Then let's get going. Akamaru's anxious." She gestured to the dog, stiff and bristling.

Kiba petted Akamaru absentmindedly, still facing the direction the strong wind was blowing from. "The blood's stronger than ever," he told them, hair ruffling.

Akamaru whined, low in his throat.

"We should get going, then," Tenten said. For some reason, there was a strange feeling bubbling in her stomach. Not anxiety, exactly, but more along the lines of fear. There was something up there that wasn't… wasn't good.

"'K boy, come on." In another couple minutes, the group was running swiftly across the sand, Chouji huffing behind them.

"Why are we running again?" he moaned. No one paid any attention to him, focused on the dark shape that was gradually getting closer.

It was only when they were within ten feet of the rocks that they realized where they were.

The rocks formed a natural basin, about thirty feet deep at the center. And at the center, was a group of ninjas with dark cloaks and red clouds. Tenten stared in horror at them. "We actually found them."

Kiba was gritting his teeth, hands trembling as he forced himself to remain there. "I want to go in!" Akamaru was growling, his whole body shaking. "I need to."

"Naruto's there too," Shino suddenly said. All the others snapped their heads toward the huddle again. They could make out a lot of orange hair, one black head… but no blonde. "In the middle. On the ground," he clarified.

And suddenly, Naruto wasn't on the ground anymore.

Orange chakra covered his body, and he looked ready to kill something. Tenten was frantically whispering into her comm. unit. "We've found the Akatsuki hideout! Repeat, we've found the Akatsuki hideout!"

Shikamaru's voice instantly crackled back. "Don't do anything!"

"We weren't going to. But Naruto looks mad."

"We're coming. What's he doing?"

"He's in one-tail state already, but the chakra is orange. He's attacking—Madara! The one with the mask."

Shikamaru cussed on the other end, and Tenten could tell he was running by the way his breathing started to become erratic. "Stupid. Stay low. Don't—"

The line went dead, because Tenten went flying. She hit the rocks with a thud, and the rest of the group could hear a distinct crack that sent shivers down their spine. Zetsu smiled from where he'd backhanded her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was I interrupting something?" the White half asked gleefully.

"You've intruded. We won't kill you yet…but be ready," the Black side said in synchronization. Then the plant-creature faded back into the ground, only to reappear next to Shino. A quick kick sent Shino flying across the rocks too.

"This is getting bad," Kiba mumbled as he charged toward Zetsu. "Please, Naruto… don't do anything too rash."

* * *

><p><strong>RAMEN WILL OWN THE WORLD ALONG NARUTO! Because me and agui972 are officially taking over the world with rabid Naruto fans…*crazy laughter* Ok I had to write that. But we are! Really! And who Bloody Mallory (referring to the 2<strong>**nd**** quote) is I have no clue…O.o Hehe momentary Heaven/Hell stuff up there. I wasn't sure how to end the chapter, so I ended it there… AUGH sorry!**

**Ok, I have more bad news. *everyone groans* School's starting again, soon, in like 3 weeks for me (WHERE'D MY SUMMER GO?.!) and, er, being my family and all, we're taking a vacay! Whoee! On a cruise! XD go us, right? IT ALWAYS HAPPENS RIGHT BEFORE SCHOOL! And schedule pickup day is the week we're gone too! AUGHH! Ah-hem, okay. So I'm gonna be gone (again, I'm really sorry) 7-14, or 13, I don't really know, of August. A warning, I suppose… hehe running away now…**

**TBC!**


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**A/N: So, I wanna start off by saying thanks to everyone for reading/favorite/alerting/following this story! Again! Yay! Now that that's outta the way… Chapter fourteen! Presented. This was one of my fave chapters to write. I just **_**love **_**torturing Naruto...mwahahahahah- *chokes***

**Disclaimer: I stole Naruto so Kishimoto's after me, but I still got this chapter out for everyone! :)**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Fourteen<strong>

_Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear. _–Mark Twain

_If there is ever tomorrow when we're not together… there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart… I'll always be with you. _–Winnie the Pooh

Sand was kicked up, spraying the Akatsuki members as they dodged Naruto's random but deadly attacks.

Cloaked in chakra that was both an offense and a defense, faster than a normal ninja, with the fox's cunning and bloodthirstiness on his side… Naruto would be an interesting opponent to fight. Madara smiled.

Naruto growled.

"I guess I'm done taunting you," he said easily, stepping back with both arms spread wide—though one was still missing a hand. "Come at me with all you've got, fox. Let's finish the little game we started over a year ago, and let us see who the real predator is…"

The blur raced toward Madara. It seemed fast even to his Sharingan eyes. He twisted to the side just as the jinchuuriki shot past. What Madara didn't expect, however, was the chakra arm that was sent hurtling back toward him. Without a second's hesitation, he let the arm fly through him. His time/space control was already flawless and instinctive.

Naruto was crouched on the ground again, one tail waving behind him menacingly. Steam rose where hands and feet met earth. "You're wrong, Madara. You're always wrong."

He still sounded like there were two voices from one body.

Madara's eyes widened just a little bit. _Hm. So he can still talk, even though half of him has already lost its humanity. _

"I don't think I can save everyone. But that is—not my dream, but my reality. I protect the ones I left, if only to honor my past self's promises. And if only to mess up your plans, I will continue fighting you." Teeth were bared. "Saving myself…what a silly notion. Why save yourself when you're already gone? Save the ones who can still redeem themselves."

His voice seemed throatier than ever before, a distinct growl noticeable. The Kyuubi was taking over even more, and Madara wasn't sure if that was a good thing. Because right now, both host and demon were working towards the same goal, only with different means.

Something that had never happened with them before.

"Like Sasuke. Konoha. They are redeemable. There's no point in wasting attempts on people who are already too far away, detached. _Killers, _like you and me." Naruto—no, the fox—grinned.

"I know I can't save everyone. I know people will die. But the difference _between _you and me, is that only you will die today. And I will not."

The chakra claw that had been hidden underground burst upward. Madara, however, was already dodging it. He was forced to make his arm insubstantial to avoid it being seared off. He was then forced again into doing flips backwards to avoid the constant barrage of the chakra hand.

While he was distracted, a clone flew out from behind him and stabbed a kunai directly into his heart.

The kunai was already half-melted from being in contact with the burning chakra too long, and Madara's eyes were frozen with surprise. Naruto made a sound that could've passed as a laugh, maybe in some alternate universe.

Then the chuckle faded into a snarl as the pale skin of the Uchiha turned into a pasty dead-white of Zetsu. The clone lay mangled on the ground.

"You're not the only one who has clones, Naruto," Madara said from behind Naruto, who whirled, and jumped straight at him without thinking.

Madara smirked underneath his mask before grabbing Naruto's arms with one hand, ignoring the chakra, and swinging him around. Naruto rolled in the sand before slamming _hard _into the circle of rocks around their little battle site. Madara walked toward the cloud of dust rising from where Naruto had fallen.

It cleared to reveal Naruto shakily standing, the rocks behind him splintered and cracked. Madara had swung him hard, even with only one hand, he noted. His head and back ached. And his sides. In fact, he was just a whole song of pain, wasn't he?

Both sides apprehended the other, wariness in both gazes. Slight as it was, it was still there.

Naruto stood, in a solid stance, one arm up. The other hand seemed to have fractured a bone when it impacted with the hard rock, and it was healing slower than usual.

_Good, _Madara thought, _the Kyuubi still isn't fully awake. Better make this quick. I'm not one to avoid fighting dirty… Any disadvantage of his is an advantage for me. _He grinned, arms folded across his chest.

"So, Naruto, what's your plan exactly? Do you have it all figured out?"

Naruto started, arm jerking before the other hand caught it, holding it steady. Now he had one arm folded across his chest, the other down by his side. _Vulnerable. _"What do you mean?" His eyes narrowed in a glare.

He should've known it would've been pointless. It seemed all Uchihas were equipped with the Ultimate Glare of Doom gene.

"If you pass us, which is highly unlikely, then what would you do? Satisfy me. I'm curious." From the edges of Madara's eyes, he could just make out with his sharp eyesight two Zetsus fighting what looked like Konoha.

Hmm… Well this could get very interesting.

Also, he didn't miss the sight of two Paths coming from behind Naruto, slowly.

Naruto's face was drawn, but not for the reason the other might've guessed. He was tense because, inside, he was still conflicted. So he would carve his own path. So he would not die. So none of his other friends would—should—die, if this all went according to plan…

But that was the _slight _problem.

Naruto? Had no plan.

He didn't know what to do. How would he, exactly, prevent his friends from being killed? Madara had already said as much—he wanted them to die in front of him, and if he succeeded in that, Naruto was pretty much assured that the Kyuubi would take control.

And everyone knew what the fox would do. Run away with his tail in his legs like a coward.

In this little game, it was eleven—Akatsuki—versus one—himself—versus twelve, who may or may not even be on Naruto's side. So it also could be thirteen versus eleven, or twenty-three versus one. However, Naruto concluded, judging on what his ex-teammates were like… they would most likely wipe out the Akatsuki first, and then finish him off.

Two birds with one stone, right? Now, who doesn't like that?

All that reasoning still didn't help Naruto figure out a plan, though. Even if they destroyed the organization, there was still a high possibility that at least one Konoha shinobi would die.

Just one would be enough to push Naruto over the edge.

_Isn't that just another weakness?_

Naruto set his face back into his emotionless façade, blocking that sniveling voice from his mind. He didn't understand why he had such weird voices, if all they served was annoyance and distraction on a silver platter.

There was just one more little problem he had to unravel. Would he fight _with _Konoha, _against _both, or against Akatsuki?

Well, that was such a hard question.

As for the plan…

He was still the number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja, wasn't he? Okay then. Plan: Wing It. One corner of his mouth tilted up.

"That sounds like a command. And I don't follow commands," Naruto said, mocking in his eyes and voice.

Madara felt his eyes narrow, just slightly, in response to the impudent tone. How dare that brat mock him! But more importantly, it sounded as if the double tone—the Nine-tails influence—was growing weaker and weaker. The only thing remaining was Naruto, and right now, that was worse than having the demon fox in control. Because right now, Naruto had a plan. A drive.

"I guess I'll just have to beat it out of you then." Madara blurred forward at the same time the other two Paths did.

Two tails—when had another emerged?—wrapped around the Paths, trapping them in burning fire. A Rasengan was already in Naruto's left hand, ever swirling around and around. His head whipped side to side as he tried to find Madara.

Another Path landed in front of him, and Naruto wasted no time in sending the Rasengan hurling forward. The Path dodged easily, despite the stocky look to his body. Naruto was no expert in Paths, so he'd just have to…again…wing it.

This Path, at least, wasn't the main body or the summoning one, as he was performing no seals. Naruto twisted to the side as a punch whistled past his ear, his two tails never letting go of their prey. The cloaks on the Paths were slowly being seared off. Another kick landed dangerously close to his side, and ducked before sending a chakra claw to catch the Path's leg and jerk. It brought him off balance and crashed the Path to the ground.

Naruto stood again, favoring his left arm. No more Rasengans with that hand. He bent down toward the Path. On closer inspection, it was the Path who'd caught him back in the cave, when he'd burst out. Huh. Payback's not nice at all, is it?

His Rasengan slammed into the Path's stomach, and Naruto felt a rush of relief. One down…

That small good didn't do a thing against the world of bad.

Suddenly, two other Paths were on him, just as he felt something press against his tail. Then: "Summoning jutsu!"

A second later, he heard a thunderous 'caw' and a hideous, pierced bird flew out from the smoke. Naruto caught a glimpse of the Rinnegan in its eyes before he flattened himself, as it dived at a frightening speed. He felt the claws just brush the tips of his spiky hair and breathed a silent sigh.

He did _not _want to die by getting his head clawed off by a monster bird.

Then he groaned. _Come on! I just took down one Path and now I have the exact same number of opponents… _Naruto made a face before performing the shadow clone jutsu, a dozen Narutos leaping out and running off.

He saw two tackle a female Path to the ground—the one who'd summoned the animal. It seemed she'd used the bird to escape from his chakra tail, but the other Path was still locked in it. Another clone ran toward this bald Path, with spikes all over his head; yet another couple clones charged toward a Path with hair slicked back on his head.

The rest stayed clustered around Naruto. The clones didn't have an orange shield covering them, but they all had red eyes.

Naruto still didn't relax though. Where was Madara? And Konan and the main Path of Pein? And most importantly, where was Itachi?

He barely caught the whistling of air in time, and the bird took out two clones with one foot. And the bird had _three _feet. So not fair—what?.! It was coming back! Naruto leaped to his feet, and automatically two Rasengans swirled into existence on his palms. He ignored the pain in his left hand.

Smoothly, like they were one machine, one body, a clone cupped his hands. The original Naruto jumped on the hands before propelling himself into the air, straight at the oncoming missile.

_Bam! _The birdie exploded in a burst of green feathers. As Naruto tumbled to the ground, he realized just how badly that little stunt could've gone—if he'd aimed just a tiny bit higher, the beak would've pierced his middle.

Oh well. What's done was done, right? One giant mutant bird, down for the count. Now he just had to take down the animal Path before she summoned _more _inane creatures. Naruto scanned his ranks quickly.

Okay, so one Path was down. There was one still clutched in his tail—_the Path must be half dead by now, from the chakra and being swung around, _he thought amusedly. The animal Path was occupied by kunais and weapons, which gave her no time for a summoning. The chakra sucking Path—the one with slicked back hair—was giving him the most trouble. It had completely poofed away both clones.

Naruto sighed before deciding: first, take care of the Path in his tail, then that one.

Only, when he turned back to check on the Path…

It was no longer there.

"Oh hell," he moaned.

* * *

><p>"Oh hell," Tsunade groaned, slamming her forehead onto the table, causing the messenger bird to squawk. Shizune glanced worriedly at her, a question hidden in her gaze.<p>

Tsunade's eyes opened to see her apprentice looking, concerned, at her, hands paused in tying the message onto the bird's leg. "What are you looking at? Hurry up and attach the message!"

"Ah, y-yes, Tsunade-sama!" Shizune quickly finished tying the scroll, and sent the bird flapping off toward Suna. She leaned forward, one elbow on the desk. "Now will you tell me what's wrong?"

Tsunade sighed, slumping back in her chair and throwing an arm dramatically across her forehead. "That stupid feeling is back."

Even though her gestures and words were silly and carefree, the way she said them meant Tsunade was dead serious. And she hoped in her head that she was dead wrong, just this one time.

Just this one time, let her terrible luck be wrong.

* * *

><p>Tenten grimaced, shaking off the pain from her ribs as she shakily stood up. One hand was braced on the cool rock below her, eyes focused on the battle scene before her.<p>

Kiba had done the Fang Over Fang with Akamaru, and managed to make a tunnel in the sand that did absolutely nothing for their side. Shino had gotten up again from the kick, and was patiently waiting on the sides for a way in with Chouji. Lee was engaging Zetsu—who was surprisingly agile—in a fight with taijutsu.

"Leaf hurricane!" he yelled, leg flying towards the top of Zetsu's head. What would've been very painful turned empty as Lee's foot connected with the rock. "Ow!"

Lee hopped up and down, foot in pain after connecting solidly with the rock. Zetsu—or maybe, rather, Zets_us_, smirked. There were two of them now, black and white.

"Which one do you want?" Tenten could only assume the cold, slow voice came from the black Zetsu, because there was no mouth to indicate words. The white Zetsu clapped his hands together happily.

"Ooh, I'm glad you didn't say we should fight together. How boring is that?" he asked cheerfully. "I'll take those two over there. It should be easy enough fighting this fool and the idiot who charged us, shouldn't it?" Black Zetsu nodded wordlessly. "And the girl's already hurt."

Zetus's face stretched into a wide grin that made him look positively crazy. "Here I come!" he called before slinking into the sand.

Black Zetsu then turned toward Tenten, hands flexing and forming a fist. "I'll take care of you first… the injured are always the weakest." He didn't slither into the ground, but took paced, careful steps toward her.

Tenten braced herself, one hand on the scroll strapped to her back. Her feet were planted firmly on the ground, ready for any attack, ignoring the pain echoing from her ribs.

Movement in the corner of her eye distracted her, as Lee came charging back. "Your opponent is not Tenten! It is I!" and he kicked Zetsu directly in the back, sending him stumbling forward.

Black Zetsu slowly straightened again, turning his head to send a chilling look at Lee, who was standing in a battle-ready pose. "You are not worth fighting right now."

Those were possibly the worst words he could've said to Lee, and Tenten could almost see fires ignite in Lee's eyes. "What did you say?"

Then the creature did the next-worst thing he could've done: he turned his back on Lee and started walking back toward Tenten. She pulled the scroll from its strap and let one end fall on the ground, eyes still trained on Lee.

His bandaged hands curled into tight fists before determination and anger flared in his face. "I said, I am your opponent! It is a great"—he kicked Zetsu in the back again—"insult to me"—this time, the kick sent Zetsu flying into the air—"and my sensei"—Lee jumped up after Zetsu—"if you ignore me!" Lee landed two more kicks before twisting midair and slamming his leg brutally down on Black Zetsu's stomach.

Zetsu's body folded in half and shot back toward the ground, slamming onto the sand (unfortunately, it wasn't rock) with a loud thud. Lee landed in front of Tenten.

"That will teach you not to mess with Konoha," he declared confidently. Tenten started to smile when—

Black Zetsu unhurriedly began sitting back up, rubbing the back of his green-haired head. "That hurt a little," he commented tonelessly before picking himself up. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to do a lot more than that…"

He flickered out of view, and both Tenten and Lee tensed. Which direction would he be coming from? Lee? Tenten? Or… Both their eyes widened in horror. No!

Black Zetsu appeared, almost languidly, next to Kiba, who'd just dug himself out of his impromptu sand tunnel. "…if you want to kill me." He brought both hands, clasped together, down toward Kiba's head.

White Zetsu was laughing crazily. "He seems like the louder one," Shino commented. "Therefore, the stupider one."

"But Naruto was also loud, and he wasn't exactly stupid," Chouji replied, eyes squinted closed in confusion. Shino just answered with a silence that meant 'Whatever, you know what I meant'.

Suddenly, Chouji saw Shino move from next to him, hands outstretched as he shot forward. He blinked, and dozens of bugs were swarming the air, buzzing toward Zetsu.

"Are you going to help me or not?"

Chouji started, and nodded. The bugs completely covered Zetsu, who flailed and writhed.

Somehow, Chouji couldn't help but think that it was an act, which proved to be right as a second later, the body dropped to the ground. Another Zetsu rose up, not five feet away from Shino.

"Just kidding," he said, and with that, a dozen other White Zetsu clones rose from the ground. They reminded Chouji horribly of graceful zombies, clawing their way out of the ground with a speed and ease not expected in someone like Zetsu.

Shino gritted his teeth, not allowing himself to groan. "Chouji. You take half, and I will take half. Try and get the main body whenever you can, because take down the head and the rest will follow."

Chouji stared, slightly amazed that the silent teenager had spoken so much—and to him, no less. "Shino—"

"Just go!"

Chouji smiled a little before cracking his knuckles, and yelled, "Expansion jutsu!" Both hands widened, times ten.

Shino rocked on his feet slightly as both of Chouji's hands slammed onto the Zetsu clones. He could barely make out the pale limbs sticking out from the fists. _Good. _Then Shino focused back on his own task.

The Zetsus had surrounded him in a half-moon, all grinning grotesquely. "I hate smiles," Shino said blankly before thousands of bugs swarmed from his jacket sleeves. "Secret Technique: Insect Sphere." The bugs formed almost full-body casts of black on the clones, draining the chakra and reducing them to husks.

White Zetsu, who'd been hanging back, frowned. "Aw, you're harder than I thought, creepy bug guy," he complained. "So if fattie, actually. Ah, well, this means more of a challenge for me, doesn't it?" He grinned.

Shino frowned. Chouji began steaming. _Fattie?_

"But really, you guys don't stand a chance. You lost the minute you entered my range." Zetsu proclaimed, spreading his hands. Just as he did that, Shino noticed a puffy-looking white substance clinging to his sleeve.

"What _is _this stuff?" Chouji asked, trying to brush the lumps on him off.

"Futile," sing-sang White Zetsu.

It just attached to his hand and spread quicker up both arms, soon engulfing his shoulders. "Shino!"

Shino could only stand as he too was slowly covered by the mass.

"What do you say? My spore technique is quite fearsome, isn't it?" Zetsu grinned again, walking closer. "It sucks chakra out too!"

_What a mess, _Shino thought in his head. Chouji also stood still, and that's when they heard it. "Sheesh, you guys got into trouble fast!" Chouji had never been so glad to hear Shikamaru's voice. The lazy boy came into view, Neji quick on his heels. Hinata had shot off surprisingly quickly toward Kiba, who Shino just noticed had Black Zetsu standing over him.

"Well, reinforcements are here," Ino's chirpy voice announced. It seemed Shikamaru had summoned the other team too. "Now—"

"Naruto!"

Sakura's scream echoed over the sand as they saw Naruto for the first time since they began fighting.

He fell with an iron pole sticking out of his back…dangerously close to where his heart was.

* * *

><p>So, Naruto was doing <em>perfectly fine, <em>until that sneaky little Path just _had _to get his way out of Naruto's tail. Perfectly. Fine!

He growled, spinning around. One Path on the ground…two…three…four… Where were five and six? The main body and the human Path had disappeared. There were too many enemies, Naruto thought hopelessly. And Konoha—he spared a quick glance at them, shutting off his feelings and ignoring the sight of his ex-teammates—was too distracted to do any help. They couldn't even hold off Zetsu.

It was up to Naruto to defeat the rest of the Akatsuki then, wasn't it?

He felt another tail emerge as adrenaline pumped into his system. At least the Kyuubi was still staying repressed, mostly. It was because the fox was groggy, and Naruto didn't know how long that would last.

_Long enough for him to defeat the Akatsuki?_

Okay. Defeat the female Path first, then worry about everything else, since the Path in his tail disappeared. Naruto took a deep breath before plunging toward the girl.

It went well, considerably, as a giant Rasengan—all three Narutos (him and two clones)—slammed into the Path. She went flying before landing, broken, on the sand. Naruto panted slightly as the two clones blinked out of existence.

Later on, when he looked back, he decided that the _exact _point everything went wrong was there. Right after he defeated the animal Path.

Because at that moment, Madara chose to return, with Pein and Konan and the rest of the Paths.

Naruto didn't know what happened to his clones, but he could only assume they'd been wiped out.

The five Paths, Konan, and Madara surrounded him, forming a loose circle. Naruto tensed, but just barely. He locked eyes with Madara. "So, you finally decided to quit playing chicken and come back, did you?"

Madara inclined his head. "If you want to call it that." Then he straightened again, and said, "I'm not going to waste time on talking. Let's get right to the point of this, shall we?"

"Why not," Naruto agreed, just as Pein flickered into existence right above his head.

He slid to the side as Pein slammed onto the ground, hands outstretched, palms facing Naruto. "Shinra Tensai!"

Naruto felt himself starting to be dragged toward the Path, but no matter what he did, he couldn't stop from moving. Finally, as the seconds passed all too quickly, Naruto did the only thing he could've done from his position: go on the offensive.

His chakra tail whipped around and slammed—not into Pein, but into another Path who'd pushed Pein away. The new Path seemed to grab _onto _the tail itself, holding on when it should've been impossible. Naruto's eyes widened as he felt the Kyuubi's chakra leaching away. _Crap! It's the chakra-sucking Path! _

Already one tail was gone. _What should I do? If anything, the only truth the Kyuubi spoke was that I would die without his help. And I will! _Naruto panicked inside.

_**Brat…**_ the fox's voice was slow, still tired. _**I have an…idea… **_Naruto perked up.

_I'm listening._

_**Let him…suck away… a lot of chakra. The Path should…not be able… to handle so much of my chakra… **_The fox trailed off, still exhausted.

Naruto nodded, and deliberately pressed closer to the Path, who smiled in victory. Now only one tail remained, and the Path was still sucking. Nothing seemed to change about it… and Naruto began to grow worried. What if the Nine-tails was wrong? He wasn't exactly in the _clearest _state of mind right now.

Then Naruto caught it. Just the slightest flickering—the Path's skin was slowly darkening. _Burning. _

The Path noticed at the same time, letting go of Naruto like he was on fire. Which technically, he was. But the damage was already done. The blackening skin spread like a rash, covering first his arms, then shoulders, and finally his neck and head. It was kind of gruesome, and Naruto turned away from the sight as the Path fell to the ground.

"Not bad, Naruto. Or should I say, _Kyuubi_," Madara sneered from the side. Naruto's head whipped around. He noticed that the orange bubbling chakra had disappeared. It would be a while until the Kyuubi resupplied him.

Naruto would just have to hold out until then.

"I thought you said no talking."

"Childish as ever," Madara said, gaze condescending.

Naruto felt anger rising quickly, hot and fast. _Madara… _He always made Naruto angry without even trying. "I'll kill you," he promised.

"I doubt it." His voice was cool.

A growl forced its way out of Naruto's throat, deeper and longer than the ones before. Calm, Naruto. You can't rush in yet—this time, it would probably be better to have a plan. Like take down the others first, then focus on Madara.

_He's too good an opponent to fight with your back unprotected._

But there was no one to protect Naruto's back.

Naruto felt himself aching for his past.

Memories just loved to intrude on the most inopportune times, didn't they?

Naruto formed seals, quickly, and water rained down on Konan not a minute later. She blinked. "Impressive, jinchuuriki." Naruto grinned at the praise before doing another jutsu, lightning fast.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

A gust of wind roared into Konan, slamming her back onto the sand. When the cutting wind disappeared, all that was left were pieces of paper. Naruto was a bit confused until he heard Madara murmur, "So she was never here at all. With Nagato, I guess…" Distaste was in his tone.

Naruto garnered the fact that Madara didn't exactly like Konan.

"Picking us off one-by-one won't work, Naruto. Attacking together is the only way to do it." On 'together' one Path through shuriken—not at him, but straight in the air. Madara conveniently vanished.

Naruto couldn't catch who did it, but suddenly he heard "Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm!"

The shuriken scythed toward him, deadly on the powerful wind. He barely had time to execute a substitution jutsu before the shuriken buried themselves into the log, nearly piercing all the way through.

He reappeared behind the long haired Path, careful not to get into his range. Although he was forced to when a long, iron _tail _of all things slammed onto the sand where he was not a second before.

The ugly, bald Path had that serene smile pasted on his face—or rather, the one that was facing Naruto. Now that Path had three faces, six arms, and was just all around more disgusting than before. Naruto couldn't help but make a face. This thing wasn't even remotely human!

Naruto was occupied by the multiple odd workings of this Path, who even had a long knife embedded into his waist that could snap out and slice at Naruto. It reminded him vaguely of Sasori, the puppet ninja from the hazy times when he was with Konoha.

Because everything now was crystal clear, and it was back then that was cloudy.

Suddenly, a hand gripped his arm, painfully tight, and he was face to face with Pein. The bald Path had gripped his other arm, Akatsuki cloak thrown away somewhere. Naruto couldn't stop his heartbeat from quickening in fear.

This was a really bad position to be in. Really bad.

But Naruto might have escaped, even with Madara being there, if it hadn't been for the fact that he caught a glimpse of pink in his peripheral vision.

Snapping his head around, he could just make out what looked like Shino and Chouji wrapped in white. Not far away, Kiba was sprawled on the ground, Tenten and unmistakable Lee just too far away from Black Zetsu. And what looked like the rest of the Konoha 10 flooding in—Ino and Shikamaru and even Sai.

And Sakura, whose eyes widened in horror as Pein abruptly appeared behind Naruto. Without even turning his head, Naruto knew that the iron pole would pierce his body.

Naruto collapsed, his name still ringing in his ears.

* * *

><p>Isn't it funny how silence, so quiet, can also be deafening? Roaring, loud in your ears. Heavy, pressing down on you. So lonely, trapping your mind in its dark embrace.<p>

The silence now was as loud as a thousand screams in the night.

Then an actual scream did pierce the air again. "NARUTO!"

Everyone burst into action. Ino and Sai grabbed Sakura to stop her from suicide charging the Akatsuki. Shino sending out a multitude of bugs to suck out the spores; Neji flashing into existence by Black Zetsu and slamming a hand into his side; Kiba rolling out from his little tunnel and Akamaru following, his bark just another noise in the night. The remaining Paths gathered closer; Madara was laughing; and Naruto was still.

Too still.

"Didn't you say you wouldn't die?" Madara asked, leaning closer to Naruto. "Didn't you say _I _would die? In the end, _you _were wrong, not me. Funny how fate acts, isn't it." It wasn't a question, and there was no answer.

Pein made to pull the iron pole from Naruto's body, but Madara's hand stopped him. "Don't. Why don't we let Konoha see? Then they'll let all their anger rush to their heads, and feelings cloud clear thinking." Madara gave a dry chuckle. "I just love moments like these…"

As one, the black and red organization—or what was left of it—moved back to reveal Naruto's prone body. Both Zetsus as one merged, rising from the ground near Madara. "Well that was short," commented White Zetsu.

"For you," Black Zetsu retorted.

The Konoha ninja had also huddled together, both scared and strong. Disbelief was practically thrumming in the air, even more than when Madara had first pierced Naruto back near Suna.

Sakura's green eyes were burning, focused on Naruto. Ino and Sai still had firm grips on her arms, Ino whispering, "Sakura! Calm down! Seriously, _calm down. _He's not dead yet, he can't be…"

Sakura just heaved in more air, breathing hard. Sai knew that Sakura, with her monster strength, could easily break away. So there had to be _something _in her that was stopping her from attacking the Akatsuki.

His eyes focused on the body on the ground, only clad in a black shirt. Blood was turning the sand black in the moonlight, coldly shining far away, detached from the world. Blonde hair gleamed dully.

"Well, well, Konoha. It seems you came too late." The cool voice came from the one with the orange mask, and this time, anger burst in everyone.

_Uchiha Madara._

"You should be happy though. I _really _finished off your job this time. No need for Operation: Hunt Uzumaki Naruto anymore."

"How did you know about that?" Shikamaru replied instantly, focusing on the intel and not his friend. Like how true shinobi should act.

_Comrades fall. Friends die. That's an unmistakable part of how the shinobi way is. They lead a life full of pain and blood; killing and dying. Grief and sorrow do not exist in a ninja's life. No feeling ever should._

_How can you kill when you can still feel?_

"I have my ways," Madara answered. His eyes were the only noticeable part of his face, shining in the dark the way cats' eyes do. "Would you like your friend's corpse back?"

Kiba growled in unison with Akamaru. Ino shuddered and bile rose up the back of her throat. A tear tracked down Sakura's face, who had ceased her struggling.

"Oh wait." Madara nudged Naruto with his toe, and he emitted the faintest groan. Instantly, the other shinobi were on red alert. "He's not quite dead yet; you could thank the demon for that." A humorless grin was unseen under the mask. "But you won't get him back anyway. Before this week is over, Naruto will be dead, and the Kyuubi will be extracted. Our plan will go into action, and finally the Akatsuki will be able to achieve world peace."

He paced forward a couple steps. "Before we leave, I have one thing left to say to you. How selfish are you all, really? Standing in-between world peace, refusing to sacrifice your friend. Trying to save your friend, who obviously is too far gone to be saved. Selfish."

Sakura hissed, "What do you mean, _too far gone?_" Her hands balled into fists.

"To quote what Naruto said: 'There's no point in wasting attempts on people who are already too far away, detached. _Killers_, like you and me.'" Madara waved vaguely between Konoha and the Akatsuki. "Although he, of course, was referring to himself."

"Naruto would never say that!" The reply was harsh and instant.

"Oh really? He's changed. He's not the one you knew from so long ago anymore. When awakened, demons are demons, and nothing can change that. No matter how kind their heart was before."

Before Sakura could respond with another spitting retort, Shikamaru held out a hand. "Stop." And to Madara, "You like playing mind games too…it seems _demons_ think alike."

"I wouldn't go so far as to call me a demon," Madara corrected. The night air blew past. "I haven't sunk quite that low."

It was an insult hidden in a compliment. An insult to Naruto—but also to himself.

"I _said _don't do anything rash," Kiba moaned, one hand slapping his face. "Why don't you ever listen, Naruto?" The statement was so absurd and random that Tenten snorted.

"Kiba, you are so weird."

Kiba shot an offended look at Tenten, but Shikamaru was speaking again. "You're asking us how selfish we are, but you're the ones who are killing our friend to take control of a demon. And who knows what you'll do _after _you have all nine Bijuu!"

"What lazy-boy is trying to say," Sai said pleasantly, "is that compared to you, we aren't selfish at all."

"So that's how you think of it? Well, then, as pleasant as this chat has been, I have to draw it to a close." He could almost pass as regretful. "Why don't we—"

Paths scattered back, and Madara leaped forward—just in time. Deadly purple chakra erupted in a circle from where the Akatsuki had been moments before, lighting up the night sky like an aurora.

It was so hot that even the Konoha shinobi could feel the heat, in the blasting wind.

Naruto had stood up, eyes glowing white and teeth lengthening to fangs. "You know what, brat…"

It wasn't Naruto's voice that came from Naruto's body, but the fox's.

"I think you were right. Running away now won't solve anything…"

The voice grew just a little higher, not so deep and not so evil. Naruto's voice. "I told you, didn't I?"

"I guess you did, brat." It was mildly disturbing—to say the least—watching two voices come from one body. The chakra finally flared down enough to envelope Naruto's body again, warm and loving as a fire's sear. "We've got some Akatsuki to kill."

And then, together:

"_We won't forgive you for trying to kill us and the ones we swore to protect!_"

* * *

><p><strong>So. Yeah. More Naruto, whoopee! Ehehehe…Also, yes, I used some techniques from the way Naruto killed Paths in the fight at Konoha. (like the chakra Path, except it was fox version, not Sage version) It was easy, convenient, and well, he's the same person he was then, so he can do it now, right?<strong>

**My updates might get a little lagging, because of all the stuff that's popping up around this time: school, vacation, etc. D: Oh, and if in one of the earlier chapters, it seems like Madara has two hands, it's because I myself keep forgetting… T_T And if it says Naruto **_**does **_**know the Path names/abilities, tell me and I'll… apologize, I guess XD Anyway, I'll see everyone in a week or so, again! Ja!**

**TBC!**

**P.S., oh and yes, before anyone asks, there was a reason the fox said 'we' at the end. I just need to figure it out XD jk see you in the next chapter!**


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**A/N: So, I'm back again! :) And I change what I said before: Obviously Naruto is **_**very **_**OOC in my fic XD (it was in the prologue a/n) Sorry for the super duper long wait, or at least long in my standards. (fun fact: this is officially the longest chapter now, in Word Count. It even beats chap 4!)**

**Disclaimer: [Don't feel like thinking up a disclaimer. Please put something you think is appropriate here. I don't care if it's I OWN NARUTO YEAH or the standard, average, boring disclaimer. Pick one.]**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Fifteen<strong>

_Self-sacrifice…A nameless shinobi who protects peace from within its shadow… That is a true shinobi. –Uchiha Itachi_

_Sometimes we need to be hurt in order to grow. We must fail in order to know. We must lose in order to gain. Some lessons are learned best through pain. –Anonymous _

Naruto wasn't exactly conscious, but he wasn't exactly unconscious either. It was a peculiar feeling, being there…but not being there. Like he was half-asleep; the words came from his mouth, but his mind could barely register them.

It wasn't a completely unpleasant feeling, though. It was nice, letting someone else—or something else, same difference—take hold for a little. Even if that something else was usually evil; even if that some_thing _else wasn't quite human.

It was always nice to relax, you know? Even a semi-evil-semi-good protector of Konoha, the Dark Angel, has to relax sometime.

So that's why Naruto didn't really care when the Kyuubi spoke alongside him. He didn't even care when he heard the words themselves. They didn't mean anything to him, not really.

Not like how they made a difference to Konoha and the Akatsuki. However, those two reactions were very different.

Konoha was mixed—some, like Shikamaru and Neji, were just calculating the moves and possibilities of battle. Some were in awe, like Kiba and Lee; although Lee was also cheering Naruto on. Then there were the ones who felt sadness, sorrow, regret, all which they couldn't explain. Sakura, mainly, felt this, because she'd been the closest to Naruto.

Of course, besides all that, you couldn't forget the instinctual fear imbedded in the deepest, most primal part of the human mind. Faced with a chakra so evil, so deadly, and the pure killing intent filling the air, it would have to be either a very stupid ninja or a very brave one who didn't consider even the smallest chance of running away.

Like the Akatsuki, for example. Although most of them couldn't really be considered _humans_ _beings_, seeing how Zetsu wasn't even remotely normal, and the Paths were already dead. And Madara himself had already long since grown cold to the horrors of war and death. He _caused _war and death.

Madara felt himself smiling after demon-and-host spoke, two growls mixed into one. He wasted no time in forming a reply.

"_We_, demon? I wasn't aware there was a 'we' in you and Naruto."

His voice caused the two—or one, depending on how you looked at it—to swing towards him. Naruto's eyes were dark and heavy, a burning red. An evil red. Madara smiled wider. That red was so similar to the one of an Uchiha's, with the same bloodlust and anger.

Only, the fox's eyes didn't have the power that an Uchiha's did. As would be proven in this on-coming fight.

"There are a lot of things you aren't aware of, Madara, no matter what you think of yourself. Like the fact that you think you're immortal." It was the Kyuubi who spoke this time.

"Well, you're not," Naruto's voice added. The purple fire-chakra still licked around him, not bubbly like the orange chakra was.

A part of Madara wished he could've had more time to study this new development. He wished he could freeze time, examine Naruto, and see how two oh-so-different beings could become one like this. How a killer's chakra could become almost soft, tamed, but still crackling with a deadly intent underneath the façade.

But not even Madara was gifted with that ability, so he wisely kept his distance from Naruto, facing the mixture of human and demon.

The only problem with that was it left his back open for attacks from Konoha. Someone lesser than Madara would've had to worry about that, but not him. Not just because Madara could beat Konoha with his one hand, but also because Madara _knew _how these shinobi were.

Weak. That's what they were, too easily ruled by their emotions. Naruto's words would only cause them confusion, and then they would have to control that confusion, manipulate it till they thought they had pushed it to the very edges of their consciousness. They thought themselves safe from the fatal harm emotions could bring, only to find themselves paralyzed when that same thought harmless emotion struck them in the back in the middle of a life-or-death fight.

And that was why Madara hated feelings—but only weak feelings. Rage, anger, bloodthirstiness—those were all okay. But sentimentality? Confusion? Sadness? Sorrow, guilt? Those were all weak emotions. Useless emotions.

_So, truly, _Madara thought, only a ghost of the previously hidden smile playing on his lips, _who is the real shinobi here? The imposters who called themselves ninja when they can still _feel_, the demon who has killed so many only to find himself trapped in the body of one like those he killed, or me, ruthless and deadly? Who is actually protecting the people?_

Thus, Madara concluded his long conversation with himself, by thinking with conviction, _I think we all know the answer here._

With that, he warped out of sight.

Without Madara to block their view of Naruto—not that he had blocked much—there was an open leeway for attacks, from either side. No interference at all. But still, neither side moved a muscle.

Naruto had grown quiet once again, and it almost looked like he was talking to himself, or maybe the Kyuubi, inside his head. His eyes were somewhat glazed, but hadn't quite lost its sharpness yet, and because of that fact, the Konoha shinobi didn't dare talk very loudly.

"Why the heck does this keep happening to us?" Kiba complained, but still managed to keep an eye on Naruto. Akamaru whined uneasily beside him in agreement.

"This is how a fight goes, Kiba," Shino said tonelessly, hands stuffed in his pockets like the spores had never been there at all. "Changing from good to bad in a matter of seconds." Kiba opened his mouth to reply, but Shikamaru's hushed voice quieted him.

"This isn't good for us at all," Shikamaru hissed. The rest of the Konoha 10 crowded closer, leaning in to listen. "As far as I know, this will be the only respite we have. Here on out, it's defending Naruto from Madara's clutches, trying not to be killed, and capturing Naruto ourselves."

A sound made Shikamaru stop and stare at Sakura, who merely shook her head and turned away from the huddle. A long moment later, Shikamaru shrugged heavily and continued his pep talk, if one could call it that.

Sakura found herself grinding her teeth together again, shoulders shaking just the tiniest bit. Could she help but feel mutinous when they were discussing killing—no matter how Shikamaru phrased it—_Naruto? _

No, Sakura answered her own question. She didn't think she could.

It would all be no avail in the end though, she knew, and didn't get why she still felt so…so _like this. _It was the best end for Naruto, it really was, Sakura insisted to herself, squeezing her eyes shut. It had to be.

Taking a final deep breath, she allowed her eyes to open again, only to gasp. Naruto's eyes were locked with hers.

Sakura froze on instinct, not sure if it was the Kyuubi in the red gaze or Naruto. Then, slowly but still so quickly, a flash of understanding passed between the two, and Sakura turned away from her friend.

"…kill them if you can, and for now, we're on the same side as Naruto. But as soon as Naruto tries to kill _us_, we can safely assume that he's gone insane."

"Again," Tenten murmured, not spitefully but a bit sadly.

Shikamaru continued as if nobody had interrupted. "Don't immediately try and kill him. Capture is still probably the higher priority, at least until the Akatsuki is safely taken care of." Everyone nodded, and Sakura did too, pretending she knew what was going on.

It wasn't that hard to figure out, anyway.

Shikamaru checked one last time that everyone understood, and when the answer was positive, he sighed. "I hate this," Sakura could just barely hear him murmur as he faced Naruto again. She could agree, unable to look any more at Naruto. Just how well had they all known him?

Naruto was plenty aware of the attention he was receiving, in a lucid state or no. It wasn't like he was comatose or anything, for God's sake! Just trapped…a little…in his own mind. Yeah, that was the right description.

He stared up at the tall golden gates of the Kyuubi's cage, imposing as ever, seal in place. Naruto didn't really understand _how _the seal could be unharmed, when the fox was half-in-control of his body, but semantics, right?

_**Madara vanished.**_

The observation was casual, and Naruto's eyes were drawn back to the cage before him. Strangely enough, all of the fox was still there, crouched and hissing. He supposed it was because only the chakra of the Nine-tails was outside, and not the actual beast itself.

_You know, I never thought you'd be actually sane. Like talking to me without wanting to take over and destroy everything, _Naruto remarked randomly.

If demon foxes could have expressions, Naruto would swear the Kyuubi had impatience written all over his foxy face. He winced when the rumbling voice shook the room, literally.

_**You're an IDIOT!**_

_That's a bit harsh, _Naruto mumbled, shooting a glare at the Nine-tails. He regained his balance quickly after the mini earthquake subsided. _I was just saying._

_**There's no time for this. **_Exasperation was clear in the fox's growl. _**We can't forget the Akatsuki, no matter what. Not to mention Konoha. I still don't trust them. **_

Naruto grew more serious, but he couldn't help the flash of sadness that crossed his gaze after '_don't trust them_'. The Kyuubi noticed. _**It's no time to get nostalgic,**_ he reminded Naruto. There was no sympathy in his tone, not that Naruto had expected any.

_Of course not, _Naruto replied, with just a hint of sarcasm. _Everyone here is just dying to kill us. _He wasn't quite sure what he was answering to, but the double meaning to his words was enough for the Kyuubi's red eyes to narrow.

_**You're very right for once…they are. And while for now, we'll focus on the Akatsuki, I hope you know what's in store for you once you defeat them. We'll have to face Konoha…and your ex-teammates will have to die.**_

Die…die…die…

The word echoed around the large sewer-like room before fading, only to keep echoing in Naruto's head. _Die… _

_**It's kill or be killed, **_the fox said simply, pacing what little steps he could manage in his cage.

And that was the truth. It was the way of the jungle, the way the most primal creatures lived. How was it any different than what ninjas did? To most, self-survival was more important than the ones of friends, no matter how precious. Human beings were selfish, Naruto realized, just like the demon fox. So just how were humans and demons different? The only ones who weren't selfish, ready to risk others' lives just so they wouldn't have to die, were the parents. The ones who knew how lovely life was, how precious.

_Which one am I like? _Naruto wondered, not aware that he was talking—or thinking—aloud. In the end, how much would bravado and words and promises count for, when he had to pick between his ex-teammates, his ex-friends, and himself?

It scared Naruto that the answer was no longer the same as before.

_**If you're done thinking…**_ the Kyuubi began. Naruto drew out of his temporary daze to stare at the orange beast. _**You know our plan? **_

His answer was a nod, swift and silent.

_**Good. You know, this would've all been so easy if you'd just followed my instructions. Running away may be cowardly, but then we wouldn't be in the situation we're in now, would we? **_Annoyance should've followed words like that, but there just seemed to be a kind of happy air surrounding the fox. As happy as a demon could be, anyway.

Naruto began suspecting that the Kyuubi liked hearing himself talk—not that Naruto was being a hypocrite, seeing how loud he used to be.

After all the Nine-tails _could _only talk when he was stuck inside someone. It must've been a sucky tradeoff, Naruto mused as the low growl of the fox rumbled on around him, talk when trapped. Roar when free. Let thoughts be known—but only to your host, who probably hates you. Only be able to snarl, unable to voice your opinions.

Naruto felt like he had suddenly gained an insight to why the Kyuubi was so sour-tempered all the time.

_**Time to face the outside world again, **_the fox reminded Naruto, who jerked, startled. _**Focus, Naruto…and before you leave, I'll take the time to congratulate ourselves again. A great idea, brat, to say 'we' won't forgive you, and the ones 'we' swore to protect! I didn't know you could lie so well. **_

The same crazy, maniacal, gleeful, and cunning (all mixed into one giant ball) smile adorned the Kyuubi's face, showcasing dagger like teeth. Naruto paused, back to the demon, for one long second before beginning to walk again.

Naruto made sure to mask his thoughts from the demon as he regained consciousness, or half-consciousness, however much he controlled in their shared body.

_And that's where we differentiate the most. What I said wasn't a lie._

Naruto blinked, surprised to find himself staring straight at Sakura. She froze, and had a momentary deer-in-the-headlights look, before something like understanding flashed, fleetingly, between the two of them. Understanding of what, he wasn't sure, but now… he knew.

Someone would have to die here tonight.

* * *

><p>Itachi currently was watching the show.<p>

He wasn't a lazy man, or a stupid one. He wasn't arrogant enough that he thought Madara could take care of it all, though the older Uchiha probably could.

Itachi, simply, had other reasons for not joining the fight. And because he knew a certain subconsciousness of Uchiha Sasuke would have her eyes trained on this fight, Itachi didn't appear. It wasn't time for Sasuke to come here, not yet, and not now. Seeing Naruto and Itachi together would only enflame his desire of revenge, and Naruto could possibly be killed along the way, which was not acceptable.

After all, only this Uzumaki Naruto could bring Sasuke home, missing-nin or no, and Itachi was placing his trust in the idiot for now.

Although…

Annoyance peeped through his stone mask for just one quick millisecond.

Naruto just _had _to go and make this all more complicated than it was before! Bringing the Kyuubi in here was a mistake, one that could be fatal if Madara tried to manipulate the demon. And if it grew to that point, Itachi would have to intervene, which could make Madara turn on him, which could then result in a huge epic battle, in which Itachi might die, and that would be terrible. Because that would com_pletely _ruin his plans, so carefully laid so many years ago.

Calm, he reminded himself. Panicking brought no good to anyone. Still… Itachi kept his eyes on Naruto, purple chakra encasing the teenager. Naruto could not die tonight, by hands of Madara or Konoha, and Sasuke could not come here.

Itachi could only hope that the subconsciousness hadn't yet warned Sasuke where this battle was taking place, but he had no particular trust in her. The girl was weak, and had her own unknown motives in mind. She could be dealt with later.

And so, Itachi resolved, he would lay low for now, unless the situation grew dire. Even then…

His lips twisted into a small smirk, taking on the act of the killer once more.

Even then, who said he'd help?

* * *

><p>This time, the fight was not initiated with words. No more crafty mind games from the Kyuubi or Madara, no more intense stare-downs, no more suspense or insults or cleverly hidden backhanded compliments.<p>

No, none of that. This time, it was started when, as always, the Akatsuki attacked first.

The creepiest thing about this particular attack wasn't the way all of the Paths—that were still functioning—and even Zetsu moved with a lethal grace. It wasn't the way they came from nowhere to right in front, to the side, and behind Naruto. Not even how Madara appeared floating, once again, far above Naruto's head, making him completely boxed in.

You see, the creepiest thing about this particular attack was the way it was carried out in utter and complete silence.

And even that might not have been so scary, if only it didn't look like the Paths were reading each others movements seconds before they actually happened; if only it didn't seem like all the Akatsuki were moving with one mind. One purpose. One drive—to destroy, or capture, him.

Well, Naruto wasn't gonna fall for that trick again! He reached into the kunai holster on his leg—really, the Akatsuki were kinda stupid, weren't they, not to remove his weapons?—and shot out at the Paths surrounding him.

Naruto at least knew better than to shoot them at Madara. It'd only be wasted, and with that, Naruto leaped straight up into the air. _Towards_ Madara.

He barely saw Madara's eyes widen in surprise before Naruto was slipping through him, almost like Madara was a ghost. _Every move has its weakness_, he thought triumphantly. Naruto landed behind Pein.

Pein didn't twist around, to Naruto's confusion. His unspoken question was answered when the same long iron tail as before sliced into the sand next to him, unwavering ringed eyes focused on Naruto.

_**The Paths are one,**_ the Kyuubi explained, not bothering to use energy to speak. _**What one pair of eyes see, they all see.**_

Well, that sucked. While Naruto had been occupied, the fox had been controlling his body, avoiding the tail that came slicing back.

Naruto had no intention of getting into another fight with the metal Path like before, so he flipped backwards quickly, the Nine-tails suggestions running smoothly in his mind. _Rasenshuriken is an awesome idea, _Naruto agreed, momentarily forgetting about Konoha.

It didn't stay that way for long, because as Naruto reached what he thought was a safe distance, he felt a presence flicker into reality behind his back. _Itachi? _was the first thought that entered his mind, only to be deterred by the Kyuubi.

_**No… it's the Human Path!**_

_English, please?_

The thought had a distinctly annoyed tone, but as the hand of the Path came closer and closer, Naruto suddenly recalled what he knew about this particular one. It was the same one that had been in his tail, and what this Path could do was horrendous: he sucked out people's souls.

His body was seemingly on autopilot—or maybe the Kyuubi was still controlling it, Naruto didn't know—but what Naruto _did _know, was that he could've handled this all perfectly. By _himself._

But no, Konoha just had to come butting in, thinking he was in trouble. Instead of gratefulness, irritation burned through Naruto as he was pushed to the side, falling ungracefully on the sand.

He sat up, ready to yell at whoever had pushed him, only to see Neji standing where he'd been moments before. Kiba was a few feet away from Naruto, between him and the Path. The irritation faded, but just slightly, at the sight of Kiba.

_Wow, I was pushed far_, he thought, slightly amazed before his pride kicked in. No one was going to die for _him_! He could defend himself perfectly, thankyouverymuch.

Naruto vaulted to his feet, sure that his eyes were redder than ever before. The purple chakra flared a bit around his body, as if reacting to his mood. _**They just get in the way,**_ the demon fox snarled inside his head.

And so, not having the privilege to attack his (temporary) ally—Naruto assumed they were allies, since they were 'protecting' him and all—he did what Naruto had been best at.

"_What the hell was that?_" Naruto yelled, so loud in the quiet night air. To the far, far east, the sky looked like it was lightening just a little. Almost dawn, then.

Kiba looked startled, whipping his head around so fast it must have given him whiplash. "N-Naruto?"

Okay, so it was understandable that after maybe five minutes of silence, a shout could be a little loud. But that couldn't be enough to make Kiba look as scared as he was, right? Oh well. It didn't matter, it was Naruto's pride and promise he was saving here!

"What the hell was that?" he repeated, albeit more quietly.

Kiba still looked taken aback, but he answered his question. Just a bit robotically. "You—were in trouble."

Naruto couldn't help an incredulous laugh. "Me? In trouble? I could've handled it perfectly fine! I would've stopped him. I'm not the same weak person I was two years ago." His words were angry and fast.

And harsh, if the look on Kiba's face was any indication. In Naruto's peripheral vision, he could just make out a blur of white and black; Neji and the Path.

"You weren't weak back then!" Kiba looked almost like he was seething. "You were strong. You were _Naruto. _Who you are now…" His voice trailed off, and the fury slowly bled from his face only to turn into an expression that Naruto couldn't describe.

The look on his ex-teammate's face churned something unpleasant in Naruto's stomach, and the next thing he knew, his mouth was opening—but not by his will. "He was weak then, dog-boy. Don't get your facts wrong. You only thought he was strong because he was your friend, someone you looked up to and feared at the same time, even if you thought that fear was so well hidden."

Kiba's eyes narrowed, detecting the change from Naruto to Kyuubi. The fox cut Kiba off before he could even speak, nearly spitting the words from Naruto's mouth. "But it was no use. I could smell it, sense it—my sense of smell is so much keener than even yours. And since I live on fear, there's no hiding it from _me_."

Naruto's body straightened, and Naruto was back to watching from afar. Almost like a movie, a part of his mind noticed.

"You all were afraid of Naruto, and yet you thought him strong because he was in control. But now, you think him weak, because he has started to trust me. Dog-boy, ask yourself, who are the real _bad guys _here?"

_Stop it._

The words were almost missed in the red mix of rage that was the Kyuubi's mind, and Naruto himself wasn't completely aware that he'd said that. It was only when the fox asked, _**What? **_that Naruto realized something had happened.

_Stop it, _he thought again, but with more conviction.

This time, it was the Nine-tails that was incredulous, as the demon hissed, _**Look at them! They thought you needed **_**saving**_**. We were perfectly strong, capable of handling the Akatsuki. He called you weak!**_

_You call me weak, _Naruto threw back carelessly. _It doesn't hurt me. And, _he hurried to appease the fox, _you're doing it wrong. Don't yell at him, it doesn't work. He's like me._

_**Dumb and stupid, you mean? **_The thought was cruel but softly muttered, and the Kyuubi handed control back over to Naruto reluctantly again.

Naruto could tell that the fox intended to play some part in the fight, so his inner struggle wasn't over quite yet. But right now, there were other difficulties to address, namely, Kiba.

"Please leave," Naruto said, not quite pleading but not quite commanding either. He locked eyes with his ex-teammate, trying to soften the red burn of his gaze, not sure if it worked.

Kiba sensed the change back, and grinned a little. "You think we can't take on a couple of measly Akatsuki?"

Naruto didn't take the bait, refusing to smile. And Kiba's little grin died too. "It's not that…I don't want you hurt. Any of you. If you try and be heroic, you'll just end up hurt, and then I won't have fulfilled what I set out to do."

While the words themselves were heartfelt and could even be considered worried, Naruto felt nothing inside. Almost like the purple fire covering him had seared away his feelings.

"What you set out to do? What's that, protect us like we're babies who need protecting?" Kiba seemed mad again, but his body language read sad.

"You need it more than you think," was all Naruto said before throwing himself to the side. The fist of the iron Path collided on the sand where he'd been; only the fox's intuition had saved them.

"Naruto!"

His name was called vaguely out, but Naruto couldn't hear it over the rush of blood in his ears, as the Kyuubi half took control once more. Surroundings blurred into nothing as all he could see was the horrific Path in front of him, looking more like a robot with fake skin than anything alive.

Then again, he _wasn't _alive, so maybe that was why.

There was a stinging sensation across his face, and he vaguely, somewhere, registered it as the wind slapping against his skin. They must have been moving fast for the wind to feel like that, he observed, still somewhat detached from his body.

Naruto's fists moved of their own accord, engaging the Path in a taijutsu battle, which it turned out to be pretty good at. Not to mention the Path had three whole other limbs, including the stupid iron tail.

Somehow, though, Naruto managed, or maybe it was the Kyuubi that was managing. It didn't really matter, and in the end, even the iron Path lay mangled before Naruto.

He gulped in air like he was a drowning man, fully aware of where he was and what he was doing for the first time in what felt like ages. If Naruto tried hard enough, he knew he could surely recall what moves he'd used and how he'd destroyed the metal Path… but right now, he didn't want to think.

Just like how Naruto didn't want to see the looks—wary, more fearful than ever before—being tossed toward him from his ex-teammates, he couldn't avoid either one.

His brain raced a hundred miles an hour, one thought fleeting only seconds before another intruded. Naruto was slightly amazed to realize that the thoughts weren't all _his_.

There were some of the fox's mixed throughout the onslaught flooding Naruto's mind and he could only assume it was because they'd been connected for so long, sharing chakra and slowly, their mind.

A surprisingly focused battle plan drifted across his mind—the Kyuubi's. So were the hateful images of Madara and what he'd done to him, and there was even someone who looked like Naruto's father, the Fourth Hokage, standing in the background of an image.

Before Naruto could get to distracted and lose himself again, the voice he'd been hearing on and off his whole life spoke. _**Take over for a bit. I'm still not fully recovered. **_The fox sounded disgruntled to have to admit it.

_Sure, _Naruto easily responded, but the Nine-tails wasn't done yet, and he could almost see the look the demon was giving him.

_**Don't do anything stupid. **_

And that was it, before the link was cut. Naruto could finally read between the lines, though, and knew what the Kyuubi was saying: don't do anything I wouldn't do. Don't come in contact—with _them._ Konoha.

A slow applause broke his concentration again, and without even turning his head Naruto knew it was Madara.

Sure enough, he spoke. "Bravo, Naruto, although that took a bit longer than it should've." Madara was barely twenty feet away, not quite out of Naruto's attack zone yet.

Naruto refused to get caught up in Madara's twisted words, clamping his mouth shut, opting to analyze his position instead. Madara was the closest to him, since during his 'little' fight with the Path, he'd gotten farther and farther away from Kiba. Konoha was scattered now, and Naruto couldn't tell where they all were. Kiba, Neji, Sakura, Sai, and Shikamaru were all missing. Naruto tried to get rid of the twisted feeling in his stomach, the sniveling voice in his head yelling, _They're dead! They're dead! They're all too stupid to survive against _these _people!_

And maybe they were right, Naruto realized. That's what he'd told Kiba, wasn't it? Leave the fighting to him, since all Konoha would do is get in his way. And had they listened? Obviously, no.

But that was for the best, really; or so the fox would try and convince him. Konoha _was _trying to kill him, after all… His brain wasn't working quite so fast as it was before.

Madara seemed to sense that Naruto had no intention of answering, choosing to speak to fill the silence. "Now what will you do? Continue to take us down, one at a time? Or do what you _should _do?"

Naruto almost broke his vow to be silent by asking _"And what would that be?" _But he remembered, last second, and bit his tongue a little painfully to stop from blurting it out.

"Come on. You know what it is," Madara goaded. "Or will I really have to beat it from you this time? We don't have all the time in the world, you know, and I have a very important meeting with someone in about two days. Either you wrap it up or I will."

It was the curiosity that always got the cat, and this time it was no different, even if Naruto was arguably more like a fox.

"Who?" Naruto wanted to know, despite himself. Two years of fighting and hunting missing-nins had ingrained that particular question into him.

"Ah," Madara answered immediately, to Naruto's surprise. He'd thought Madara wouldn't spill, and the fact that he did, so willingly, brought Naruto's guard up. Madara sounded like the cat that had swallowed the canary, instead of the bait like Naruto just did. "No particular, just Sasuke."

The name was said with no particular inflictions, just the same irritating smugness that Madara had used for the rest of the sentence. But yet, it had an effect on Naruto.

Sometimes, no matter what you do and what you let go of, connections have a way of sticking to you like glue. And since the people Team 7 were the first friends Naruto had ever made, _Sasuke _was a very important name to him.

"Stay away from Sasuke," Naruto couldn't help but growl. Oh, if the Kyuubi saw this, he would be in such a rage. Naruto was doing exactly what the demon fox had told him not to, and Naruto knew it would land him in hot water later. If there was a later.

"Why? You're afraid I'll show him the truth, how my side is actually better? That he'll cut whatever meager bonds he has left with you, and you'll never be able to _force _him to go back to Konoha?" Madara seemed to be warming up for the finale. "You know, forcing someone against their will to do something… Uchihas are not commanded—they give orders, not the other way around. Could what _you _want Sasuke to do, what you're willing to force him to do, even if it causes pain to him, be considered human? Think about it."

There was no coldness, no sneering, in Madara's tone. Just someone stating the facts, plainly, leaving it out on the table for all to see.

And it hit Naruto hard, the impact of Madara's thoughtlessly thrown out questions. So much that Naruto chose to ignore the shock for something more favorable—anger.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Madara." Naruto tensed, just slightly, ready to charge. "You're right about one thing."

"Oh? What is that?" Madara cocked his head to the side, contemplatively. Naruto wasn't fooled, though. Madara's posture was the one of someone who was ready for battle.

"I'm done picking everyone off one by one, as if I'm afraid of fighting you. Well I'm not!"

The other understood what Naruto was implying, and unknown to the jinchuuriki, and satisfied smirk settled on Madara's lips. Thank you for being easily influenced, Naruto; I couldn't have won without you attacking before your demon recovered.

All that was thought, and the only thing that made it past Madara's mouth was: "I'm waiting."

So the fight began, again.

* * *

><p>Shikamaru would be the first to admit that this fight was not going well. Not that it had ever gone even slightly toward the direction of 'well', but this was bad.<p>

First of all, Kiba or Naruto had started a fight with each other, and their yells were loud in the desert. Then, Itachi was still gone, and that was a big problem altogether. Most of the Konoha forces were fighting some opponent, out there, but even White Zetsu was a more-than-average adversary.

The genius rubbed his temples, shutting his eyes for a brief second.

He was crouched on the ground, behind some rocks. No, he wasn't hiding, just… out of the way.

It hadn't been the most organized of plans, definitely. If Shikamaru had had time to think, analyze, and come up with a better solution, this could be going differently right now.

But time was the one thing they didn't have, so Shikamaru had been forced to work with what he had, which still wasn't much. He let out a barely audible groan, only to stiffen when he felt a presence behind me.

"It's me," Sakura's voice reassured him, and he let himself relax again.

"You scared me," he muttered, turning to look on the battle-site again. The worst fight, as far as he could see, was the one between Pein and a couple others. The Shinra Tensai of that Path was extraordinary, and not even super-gluing yourself to the floor would probably help.

He felt the air around Sakura stir as she shrugged, joining him in looking out at the flurry of people fighting. The occasional cackle could be heard from White Zetsu, but that was all. Even the conversation between Naruto and Kiba seemed to be finished.

"I'm worried," Sakura finally said. Shikamaru felt like groaning again. Of course she came to discuss some womanly stuff with him, just because he was the _only _one available. It wasn't his fault he was the strategist! Go talk to Ino or something…

"—don't think he can do it by himself. Really…"

"Who?"

Sakura looked annoyed for a second, the expression melting off her face like she didn't have the strength to keep it on. "Naruto. I don't think he can defeat Madara by himself," she repeated.

Shikamaru understood what she was saying.

"It's not that he doesn't have the power to," Sakura continued, turning her eyes from the fight to pale hands that were sifting through the sandy earth. "Which he probably doesn't. This is Madara we're talking about, remember?" A humorless chuckle escaped her lips.

He really wished she was talking to Ino about this. No matter how much he felt like he knew Naruto, it wasn't anything compared to Sakura. She'd grown up on the same team as him, gone through the same troubles as Naruto about Sasuke. Other than Naruto, her best friend, there was no one she had as much trust in.

And then Naruto had trampled that trust, abandoning the village without a glance behind, just like Sasuke had.

No wonder she's like this now, Shikamaru thought sardonically. "He'll be constantly distracted by us," he filled in for Sakura, not voicing his previous thoughts. "Feeling like he has to protect us."

Those words were said with the conversation between Naruto and Kiba in mind. _I don't want you hurt. Any of you. If you try and be heroic, you'll just end up hurt, and then I won't have fulfilled what I set out to do._

Which was what? Shikamaru's mind couldn't help but wonder.

"Yeah," Sakura was agreeing. "Which is why we have to take out as many Akatsuki as we can, for him. Our last gift."

If Shikamaru hadn't known Sakura, he would've thought that the expression on her face was the real one. But since he knew her, and knew what she was going through—felt what she was going through—Shikamaru also knew that the determined look was just another mask. Faking the bravery to cover up the hurt girl inside.

"That's touching," a voice said from behind them. Of course, it was _always _behind them.

Both ninjas twisted their bodies around to find Pein standing there, emotionless and blank as ever. In another time, another day, Shikamaru might've found humor in how so many people he knew were like that—Gaara, Sasuke, Neji.

"Pein," Sakura hissed, standing. Her gloved hands twisted into fists, fabric rubbing against fabric.

Shikamaru also stood, warily. He knew at least that this Path—the information Sakura had gathered was very accurate; they now knew about the controller and receivers—was not subtle.

As was proved when Sakura's body was suddenly dragged forward, Pein making no movement to conceal his raised arms.

Unfortunately for him, though, Pein _had _to pick Sakura.

Shikamaru could almost feel the punch as the Path flew backwards, only to easily twist in midair and land on both feet. Sakura slid to a stop against the rock Shikamaru had been hiding behind (okay fine, he _was _hiding). She winced as she sat up, and to answer Shikamaru's unspoken question, "He pushed me away at the last second, so the punch didn't affect him as much as it should've."

Sure enough, Pein didn't seem disgruntled at all. Shikamaru suddenly wondered what had happened to the ones fighting the Path, and lost a quick second to glance behind him.

They were still fighting, but only now it was a different Path, the one Neji had been fighting against. Shikamaru was offered no more time when he suddenly found himself flying. _This was uncomfortable, _was his last thought before Sakura grabbed his arms and _pulled. _

_And that—was painful._

Shikamaru didn't have time to waste worrying about his comrades—that was what trust was for. Trust that they'd stay safe.

But there was one thing about the scene he had momentarily glimpsed that worried him. A lot.

Naruto was facing off against Madara. Again.

As Shikamaru and Sakura both started to be pulled in, inevitably, he did the only thing he could for Naruto at that moment; the only thing any of them could've done for Naruto, who was foolish and stubborn, believing that he was on a path only he could walk—when others would've gladly reached their hands out to help him.

But Naruto had refused their hands, so all they could do was trust Naruto. Even if Naruto no longer trusted them, it was all they could do for their friend.

So maybe, even blindly, the Konoha 10 did that.

Trust.

* * *

><p><strong>The ending made me feel sad :( for unexplainable reasons…Oh, right! I almost forgot. If anyone looks through the reviews and sees some really weird ones by someone called agui972, do NOT be alarmed! We know what we're talking about…even if it seems odd (extremely) to others XD hehe so yeah, just a warning, in case you do that (which I do, so I don't care if you do—okay yeah). Again, I'm sorry for the wait! Hope you all liked this chapter anyway =) By my calculations, hopefully this whole thing with Madara and Akatsuki and Naruto and Konoha should end next chapter. It's dragging a bit :P<strong>

**TBC!**


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**A/N: Hola. School has officially started for me :( Which is why this took so long to get out. There's just one thing I wanna say this time: the first quote is really long, but I think the song from Nine Inch Nails really fits maybe not only my story a little, but also kinda the whole canon. At least the 'so naïve' part XD you could interpret this song a lot of ways; it wouldn't be about just one person in _Naruto_, probably. And before I write a whole essay on this song, I'll leave you to figure it out yourself. Also, while we're on the subject, same goes for the second quote. It could mean multiple things or not mean anything at all. Maybe I just like it. Who knows? ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I gave Naruto back to Kishimoto since he kept eating all my ramen, so for now, I do not own Naruto. Yet.**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Sixteen<strong>

_You're keeping in step/In the line/Got your chin held high and you feel just fine/Because you do/What you're told/But inside your heart it is black and it's hollow and it's cold. Just how deep do you believe?/Will you bite the hand that feeds?/Will you chew until it bleeds?/Can you get up off your knees?/Are you brave enough to see it?/Do you want to change it? … So naïve/I keep holding on to what I want to believe/I can see/But I keep holding on and on and on and on. _–Lyrics from The Hand That Feeds, Nine Inch Nails

_Trying to forget someone you love is like trying to remember someone you never knew. _–Anonymous

"Are you kidding me?"

Tsunade, surprisingly, wasn't the one to say it. It was Temari, a more likely candidate for such an outburst than Gaara or Kankuro.

No one at the table in Suna answered, each immersed in their own thoughts. Either that or they just didn't want to answer such a question.

"You—you just let them go off into the sunset, let them think they're doing the right things? By _killing _Naruto?" Temari was showing more emotion than even she—the most volatile of the three siblings—usually did. "Ninjas aren't heroes."

"They aren't killing Naruto," Tsunade finally answered, provoked by Temari's words. "And they aren't trying to be heroes." She offered no more explanation.

Temari leaned back from the table, crossing her arms. Her eyes were defiant, and held the fire that Tsunade once had; in fact, only until recently, she'd still kept them burning.

"Oh then, what is it?" Temari's tone was only slightly mocking.

The Fifth Hokage chose to ignore the sting in the other girl's voice. "It's something complicated," was her somewhat vague reply.

Temari was obviously getting frustrated with Tsunade and her brothers' silence. She didn't stand up, but her hand was suddenly flattened against the table, the smack of flesh and wood loud in the silence. "Okay! Would somebody please tell me why nobody stopped those Konoha shinobi from leaving to their possible deaths?"

Her head spun toward Tsunade. "Why did you _tell _them to go? Are you insane? Do you want some of your finest dead? You of all people should know how much it hurts to see the ones you care about gone. And for you to just hand them the axe to chop off Naruto's head—are you insane?" Temari asked again. The outburst had been bottling up in her for a while.

Tsunade's expression darkened after the fourth sentence, though she waited till Temari was finished to speak. "No, I am not insane, and you clearly don't know your place." She didn't generally _like _talking this way to people, but the Suna ninja was giving her no choice.

The kunoichi blanched before covering the guilt neatly, back to the face of a perfect shinobi. "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama."

"It's fine," Tsunade accepted the apology. "I do know how much it hurts. I still feel it, every day, somewhere in my heart. I don't want anyone to experience that, but even if I want them to stop…I can't. You were there. I was outvoted; even Sakura and Shikamaru voted against me. Pain is something every ninja understands—because they have to. Physical pain is common, but the pain of the soul isn't unfamiliar to most."

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "The Konoha ninjas that you insist I sent off to their deaths don't know how much losing someone can hurt. They're too young; too naïve. To kill Naruto would scar their heart in a way that isn't erasable."

"Then why—"

"Even if I tried to tell them to stop, they wouldn't. They finally know the drive that Sasuke and Naruto both have." Tsunade cut Temari off without a second's hesitation. "And they think their purpose is to kill him, no matter what the cost. They are, in a sense, rescuing their friend."

Her words could've been dispassionate, detached. But Tsunade wasn't like that. If she believed in something, she _believed _in it. And would do anything to stand up for it.

"Rescuing their friend…" Gaara spoke for the first time.

He was rewarded with a curt nod.

"The things people will do for the ones they have formed bonds with are unbelievable."

Anger took over Tsunade's face. "What do you mean by that, Kazekage?"

Gaara wasn't daunted, but something appeared in his eyes—sadness? Bittersweet? A yearning for something he couldn't have? "I don't mean it like what you might think. The human mind is something fragile; easily broken, not very easily fixed. The human mind also clings to the ties it forms, making us believe that the ones you befriend are almost worth more than your own life. If your friend suffers, naturally you will want to soothe them. It's the same principle with Naruto."

The last was addressed to Temari, who frowned and looked down at the table. "Sorry," she mumbled again.

"Now to get to what we were going to discuss in the first place…"

"I will allow your ninja to stay in Suna as long as Naruto's friends are still out there. As soon as they return and give their report, Suna's shinobi may or may not be sent out, based on Naruto's status." Gaara laced his fingers together.

Tsunade nodded once, eyes locked with Gaara's. "Trust me when I say this: my ninjas will not fail. They are Konoha's best."

"I believe you," he replied easily. "However precautions are something everyone must take."

"Fine. Send a message when my ninjas have returned." With Gaara's assent, Tsunade waved her hand and the TV monitor turned off.

She swiveled to face the daimyo of the Fire Country, who still had his fan as always. "Thank you for letting me use the live video (1)."

"It was an emergency, wasn't it?" the daimyo said, expression pleased and placid. "Consider it repaying a debt, with you shinobi always protecting our country…"

"Thank you," Tsunade replied again, before exiting the room. Shizune was outside. "Ready to go?" Without waiting for an answer, she strode off.

Shizune caught up quickly. "How did it go?" She was genuinely curious.

"It came out perfectly. Absolutely perfectly."

Tsunade's assistant looked at her mentor with a peculiar expression. "Tsunade…" Her answer was a snapped _"What?" _"I-is there something you aren't …pleased about?"

The Hokage stopped so suddenly that Shizune almost crashed into her, halting just in time. "Whatever made you think that?"

"Just a hunch," Shizune mumbled, staying a distance behind the formidable lady as she walked ahead. "I wonder what happened with the Kazekage-sama to make her like that…"

* * *

><p>Madara knew he wasn't at complete power.<p>

He hadn't been for quite a while, actually, weakened ever since the fight with the Fourth. But even a weakened Madara was still a more than formidable opponent, as Naruto knew from experience.

But Naruto hadn't spent the whole two years as a missing-nin just sitting there. He'd improved too, and the thing he'd prided himself most on was his control.

His control over his attacks, his control over his strategy—and his control over his feelings. He'd _trained _himself to forget about his feelings. What good would emotions bring in the middle of a fight? A clear-headed shinobi would always beat a hot-tempered one.

So that was why it was so ironic that Naruto lost his impeccable control _now_, of all times, when control was crucial. He'd be the first to admit it: something had let him give way to the pressure of Madara's words. Maybe because rage was in fact better to deal with, to lose yourself in the redness and just not _think _for once.

But whatever the reason, it was undeniable that this particular fight between the 'clear-headed' shinobi—Madara—and the 'hot-tempered' one—Naruto—wouldn't be an ordinary fight.

Really. Was any battle with Naruto ever one?

Madara, for once, wasn't using his (ultimate cheat) time-space-control, and ducked Naruto's first blow. And the second. And the third, the fourth, the fifth.

Naruto growled, frustrated. What the hell was this guy's problem? "Fight already!" he shouted, reckless in his anger. His right leg shot toward Madara's side with devastating force, blurring because it moved so fast.

Anger was like a double-sided sword: it muddled your mind in a good yet bad way, and fueled your energy. It was just like adrenaline, but easier to get lost in.

"Do you really want me to fight you?" The words were low and easily missed, but Naruto's sharp ears caught them. Madara didn't sound winded at all.

"Who do you think I am?" he answered with a question, his now-curiously-blue eyes sharp and questioning. No demonic characteristics remained on the still slightly pudgy face—the child that had resided in the features was long gone though.

Madara simply blinked, and as such, the fight grew in intensity.

It was still mostly taijutsu. Naruto's right arm raised to block a crushing kick from Madara, who used the leverage to flip into the air and land a solid one of Naruto's back, sending him collapsing into the sand. Instantly, Naruto rolled over, narrowly missing the fist crashing down centimeters from his nose. He wasted no time retaliating; pain was just another distant aspect in his fury-ridden mind.

Naruto went on the offensive: managing a great feat of agility and with a sudden surge of strength (that would, for sure, leave him sore later) swung his whole body around so his foot latched around Madara's ankle and pulled.

As quick as Naruto's movement had been, the Sharingan was faster. Madara couldn't get completely out of the way, so instead he twisted backwards as soon as he felt himself falling.

Naruto saw the direction Madara was heading, and shot to his feet in a lightning-fast second, shooting forward and catching the Uchiha straight in the stomach.

Madara bent from the force of the blow, eyes widening in instinctive shock.

However, it would never be as easy as just that. After all, Naruto was Naruto and Madara was…Madara. Possibly the second most talented ninja in the whole world; behind only Itachi, of course. Madara's mind was clear and not clouded, unlike Naruto's; therefore, he could quickly analyze the situation and decide on the best course of action.

It also helped that he had the ability most shinobi had: the ability to lock away their pain, as easily as putting it in a box and stowing it in the corner of their mind to focus on later.

He grabbed the fist and repeated the move he'd used when this fight had just begun, after Naruto had chose to break free.

Naruto hit the ground much harder than he had when Madara had landed on his back, the breath wooshing out of him all at once. He sucked in a huge breath of air, feeling the faint tingle of sand-burn (if there was such a thing) on the back of his arms and legs. Surprisingly, Madara hadn't come charging over to attack him while he was vulnerable, and Naruto took the moment to cautiously stand upright again, keeping his eyes focused on Madara's unmoving figure all the while.

Madara stared stonily back at the jinchuuriki, who was stretching his arms as if afraid they might have been dislocated when Madara had grabbed his fist and swung him around. Foolish boy; this battle wouldn't be over without at least a hint of a jutsu done.

He barely made out a sharp whistling sound, coming from somewhere far behind him, like sand being thrown through the air at breakneck speeds. Naruto's widening eyes showed that Madara's guess had been spot on.

Really, though, the Kyuubi boy needed to put a leash on his emotions. As said before, Madara wasn't above using the opponent's—he wouldn't go so far as to call Naruto an enemy, not yet—disadvantage to his advantage, so the boy not being able to reign in his anger was a plus.

But if he was like this _now_, so easily angered over the mention of hurting his 'friends', would he really be any use in the future?

Doubt was beginning to blossom in Madara's mind. Not that they hadn't been there before, but they'd simply been seeds and hadn't taken root. No, the jinchuuriki would most likely not be a valuable asset in any part of his future plan—other than dead, of course.

Naruto could only stare in shock and slight awe at the fountain of sand that sprayed maybe twenty feet into the air, looking small from his distance. The sounds of battle momentarily paused, probably to stare at the sand too.

_Gaara? _was his first thought.

_No, _another part of him quickly objected, _Gaara wouldn't do something like that. It's more like the work of Sakura…_

_And, _the familiar, sarcastic voice (always present, never gone), _Gaara wouldn't be here anyway._

The sting that those words brought was unpleasant and sadly, not unfamiliar.

"Why don't you attack?" he yelled, to cover up the slight pain in his chest. Naruto almost wanted to ask, _"What's wrong with you?" _but he knew the only answer he'd get would be something along the lines of 'what's wrong with me? You're the demon, the unnatural child.' Like all the adults in the village had done when he was the child.

Another reason Naruto had left Konoha, no matter how deep down the resentment was buried, was because of the way he'd been treated when he was young and stupid. Naïve, like everyone always said he was.

It's easy to forget about that when making new friends, exploring new techniques, doing new things. The bitterness was buried in his memories, unwanted and untouched, much like how shinobi locked pain away.

But no matter what people and books say, forgiveness is not easily given and is not easily asked for. The villagers and higher shinobi wouldn't trust him, and in return, he couldn't trust them.

Perhaps he'd been on the road to recovery, starting to do things that redeemed himself, gaining the acceptance of Konoha and in turn, accepting himself.

All that had been severed when he'd left without a backward glance.

And now, Konoha didn't even remember him.

Yes, it was better to deny Konoha and everything it brought, symbolically and physically. Which meant denying his ex-teammates, sending them home…without killing them.

He didn't really think he could survive the killing of the ones he'd once called precious.

Naruto blinked and drew a deep breath, surprised that he'd let himself sink that deep into his thoughts. He refocused on Madara, who seemed to realize that Naruto was now out of his temporary stupor. Once again, he was infused with the need to know _why _Madara didn't attack him while he was vulnerable. It was more like an insult to his pride than a worry of not getting hurt.

"Thinking during battle is something most frown upon," Madara said, stepping forward on the sand. His hand twitched, just slightly. "But of course, since you seem to be unable to think any other time, battle will have to do. Have you reached your epiphany yet?"

Naruto was cut off before he could even retort. What was with Madara and insulting him?

"Konoha will only bring you no good in the end, and you are not needed by us. Only the Nine-tails is valuable to the Akatsuki, so we will leave your corpse for the Leaf, seeing how that is the only thing they appear to desire."

His teeth ground together, fists shaking just barely. Head lowered, gaze burning into the ground, his whole frame trembling infinitesimally; surely, his eyes had leached from blue to the deepest red by now.

Naruto spoke, face still shadowed by overgrown bangs he'd had no time to cut during his missing-nin years.

Actually, it wasn't more of _talking _as _snarling._

"You… you can talk down to me, insult me, and that won't dent my pride. You can talk about how I turned traitor, and that won't affect my resolve. You can hurt me, and I won't bend. But there are just two things you cannot do, you understand? You _cannot _hurt the people I've sworn to protect…and if you talk about me like that again, I will never forgive you, and you will pay." Naruto's eyes raised to meet Madara's, and unsurprisingly, they were red and had slit-eyed pupils.

"I will pay?" Madara answered inquiringly, ignoring the menacing growl in Naruto's voice. "How?"

He should've said, 'By what?'

Naruto didn't sound quite human when he answered, which was fitting. He had long since ceased being human.

"_With your life._"

It was time, Naruto decided. Time to execute 'The Plan'. He'd waited long enough—it wasn't like he had all the time in the world here. Dawn was coming, quickly, and he wanted this done with before the day grew too hot.

He closed his eyes before he called two shadow clones to his side, judging the difference between Madara and him.

In reality, if he launched a Rasenshuriken, it would just kill him and everyone else in the sandy pit not so far from here.

But he wasn't going to do that.

The whirring ball of chakra appeared in his right hand, and vaguely, out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw blurred figure rush into the sand cloud still hovering far away. The two clones put their hands near the ball of chakra, adding the wind element.

There were too many ways this could go wrong, and Naruto knew that. This plan was risky, but there was no other choice with time running so low. So consequences be damned, this was just going to have to happen.

He always knew there was a reason why he hated that saying.

"You'll kill yourself if you launch that now," Madara said calmly, though Naruto thought he could sense a bit of trepidation in Madara's voice. After all, the Rasenshuriken was the attack that had cost him his arm.

"So what if I do? I'll at least have the pleasure of you dying too." Naruto's lips twisted into a cocky sneer.

Madara didn't say anything as Naruto flashed toward him, shadow clones disappearing into thin air.

The blue-white 'shuriken' whipped through the air, making high whining pitches. Madara didn't move, but Naruto did…only, Madara didn't see Naruto run toward him.

The Rasenshuriken flew right through him.

"See, Naruto, it wouldn't work—" he began, only to have his eyes widen as Naruto grinned, mere inches from his mask.

The punch threw Madara's face to the side, a crack splintering on the mask from the force of the blow. "You grew smarter…"

"I did," Naruto acknowledged, "and you'll find that I'm still smarter than you."

Madara stiffened as he heard the same high whining sound from behind him, turning his head slowly. The wind jutsu was spinning in the palm of the original Naruto; the clone who had punched him poofed away.

"Clever, disguising yourself as the jutsu…that takes skill," Madara complimented offhandedly.

"Thank you," Naruto accepted the praise. His eyes were still red, red as a demon. "I learned it…from a long ago trick."

"Trick? How funny."

Their conversation was so strange, so casual, in a place where death was going to occur. Naruto cracked his neck, and Madara sensed the sharp spike of chakra pierce the air. He readied himself for the attack. There was no way Naruto could win this.

From what the fox told him, Naruto knew that Madara, like Pein, had a time limit to his going-through-you jutsu. Ten seconds…a minute… who knew? "No last words?"

"If I don't think I will die, why should I say anything?" Madara replied, the light bantering tone present still.

Very well then.

Naruto arched back his arm and threw the Rasenshuriken with all the force he had left. This would be the last attack…and if it didn't work…

Consequences be damned, right?

Madara smirked. It might very well have been the end…if Madara wasn't who he was and still had a trick up his Akatsuki sleeve.

Seconds passed slowly as minutes, Naruto's breath quickening in spite of himself. Madara waited for the perfect moment.

Utter silence settled over the desert the moment before everything exploded, as if Mother Nature herself was waiting for this battle.

A blinding light settled over the desert, enough that even Naruto had to squint his eyes shut, as desperate as he was to see the remains of Madara. Had he really done it?

Of course not.

The light cleared as quick as it had come, to reveal Madara on his knees, one hand over his left eye, mask gone. It was obvious as day that he wasn't dead, not even unconscious!

So many feelings flooded Naruto that he didn't have enough time to sort them out, or try and catch a glimpse of Madara's true face.

"As you can see, I'm not dead," Madara said, standing up slowly. He almost stumbled once, and Naruto might've laughed if he wasn't so drained (mentally and physically) himself.

Both stared at each other, as if measuring what to do.

Naruto took a step, and so did Madara… and suddenly found himself with a mouth full of sand. He was so tired…so tired and all he wanted to do was sleep and sleep and sleep… Maybe he'd used too much chakra? He _had _been fighting practically five hours straight…

A sharp bolt of pain sliced through Madara's eye, sending him back to his knees. He coughed, but was relieved to see no blood staining the rapidly lightening sand. Daylight was coming.

"Madara…"

The voice was cool and belonged to Itachi.

Madara glared up at his younger 'subordinate'. "Why did you not help?" But inside, he already knew why, and nothing he could do would make Itachi cooperate willingly. For now, he promised, as long as Itachi did nothing more than not fight, it would be fine. There were other ways to coerce the younger Uchiha (both of them) to his side…

"You didn't need any," was his reply, as Itachi put one of Madara's arms—and none too gently—around his shoulders. "We will be leaving now…this is a fight neither side has won."

"We can't leave…Konoha will kill the jinchuuriki," Madara hissed, and automatically, both gazes flickered toward the motionless boy lying in the sand.

Itachi's mouth merely tightened. "They will not… it is harder to kill your precious ones than you might think. Right now, they do not have the resolve for that ready." Then he transported out of the cold desert, flickering before vanishing with Madara. _That will be another fight for another day…far away. _

What the ninjas who came to clean up and investigate later would find most curious was that not one living—or dead—body remained. Only a giant fault line and blood black in the sand.

Oh, and the now brilliant red mark of the Dark Angel, scorched into the sand for eternity.

_A jinchuuriki's tears…_

* * *

><p>There was no resisting Pein's ability to control gravity, as Sakura soon learned.<p>

"Let go!" Shikamaru yelled as they both flew towards Pein's outstretched hands.

"No!" Sakura screamed back. "It's too late anyway! He's got us both now." Shikamaru knew what Sakura meant, but still! She shouldn't have held onto him at all. He gritted his teeth and waited for the impact.

He'd been expecting it, but it still jarred every bone in his body as one of Pein's cold, iron-hard hands clamped around his neck. At least it was from the back, so his larynx wasn't crushed right away.

Sakura fared a bit better. Instead of reaching for her throat, the Path wisely captured the foot aimed at his face, leaving her dangling, awkwardly, upside down.

"I told you," she said a bit smugly to Shikamaru, who rolled his eyes. Really? At a time like this?

For once, Shikamaru didn't have to think of a plan. Sakura handled it well by herself, swinging the free leg straight toward Pein's gut. It connected with a solid _thunk, _sending him flying a couple feet away.

Unfortunately, that didn't cause Pein to release Shikamaru or Sakura. Apparently, dead people don't feel pain after all!

"Gah," Shikamaru choked as the hand around his throat only tightened. "Next time, Sakura, try hitting him _in the arm. _It's a little painful not being able to breathe here."

"You think it's fun hanging upside down?" she growled back. Huh, maybe she was right. While only Shikamaru's feet brushed the ground, all of Sakura's head snapped against the sand every time Pein moved.

The Path still held both ninjas up, effortlessly, as if they weighed as much as a bag of feathers. He looked decidedly more cautious of Sakura's free leg and arms, though.

Sakura was attempting her attack again. Only this time, she punched the ground.

Sand, as most know, is not like dirt. Dirt, when packed together, has a different density, a different hardness, than sand. Dirt, when punched by abnormally strong teenage ninja girls, will crack open like someone snapping a board in half.

Sand, on the other hand… When punched, it will spray up in a circle from the point it was attacked, hitting the opponent—and sometimes, ally—really hard in the face. As Shikamaru found out the hard way.

The good thing about sand was that after a certain amount of loose grains are removed, you get to the hard part. The actual earth, packed together, and when _that _is punched, it creates a gigantic fault line that's quite hard to avoid.

"That was a really bad idea—" Shikamaru tried to warn her, but it was too late. In the mini-sandstorm Sakura had abruptly created, any help for either side was useless; they couldn't possibly get through the whipping sand circling the trio.

Strangely enough, where Pein and the two Konoha ninjas were, there was no spraying sand…_anymore, _to the immense relief of Shikamaru.

He couldn't figure out just why there was no sand in their little protective circle—it could either be because Sakura's punch made the sand go outward _(doubtful)_ or Pein was pushing the sand away _(even more doubtful)_—but you'll have to excuse Shikamaru right now. After being hit in the jaw and temple with sand going (what felt like) a hundred miles an hour… he wasn't exactly in the most functioning of moods.

But what Shikamaru had said was true. It certainly wasn't one of Sakura's most brilliant plans, as they soon found out when all three ended up falling into the ten-foot-deep crack.

Shikamaru and Sakura would've both landed on Pein, if not for the fact that the Path had twisted midair and _pushed _them both away with his gravity. That alone allowed Pein to leap out of the fissure.

Whereas, the other two were smashed into the ground.

For a brief, three-second moment, it felt like there was a two ton elephant squashing Shikamaru. He coughed against his hand and felt a bit of blood spatter his palm. _Crap. I hope I don't have internal bleeding or something. _

At least Pein had released his choke hold on him. Knowing he didn't have much time to spare, Shikamaru vaulted to his feet, ignoring the pain calling to him from his back and neck.

Sakura was getting to her feet next to him, green eyes sparking.

There was something in those eyes, Shikamaru discovered, that hadn't been there before.

It wasn't like the anger he'd seen, masked as it was, when they talked of capturing Naruto. It wasn't the fierce hope, the fierce determination that only Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi could bring out.

The only thing he could describe it as was a goal; a drive; a dream.

Sakura herself had never had a dream like Sasuke had, like Naruto had, like the Akatsuki had. Not even a goal like Gai or Shikamaru. Maybe that was why she'd always felt so useless.

_So what's her drive now? The one she's found after all this time?_

Her words answered Shikamaru's question.

"I could never do anything for Naruto or Sasuke." It wasn't clear who exactly she was talking to, him or Pein, but both were unconsciously listening. Sakura's head bowed slightly. "I knew that I was worthless as a team member; I was just backup, never front line like Naruto.

"I couldn't affect them either. Sasuke listened to me, yes, but he didn't stop from turning to Orochimaru. Naruto insists he liked me, but yet he left the village for a life in darkness. How much did I actually _matter _to them? That's something I ask myself every day." Her head snapped back up, staring hard at the black figure above them.

Shikamaru was slightly surprised to find that her eyes were completely dry. This was a newer side to Sakura—not weak like the girl from their gennin years, and more mature, strong, than the young woman who'd grown over the years Naruto was gone.

"But none of that matters now. In the end, I know that I was important to both of them, like how they are important to me. And since I owe both of them my lives, countless times… This is my chance to pay back my debt to Naruto, and to do that, I will destroy you so he has one less opponent to worry about." Her voice was darker and had a more dangerous edge to it. "Do not doubt me."

Pein stared wordlessly down at them, before an iron pole slid from the Akatsuki right-arm cloak sleeve to rest in his hand. The fingers tightened around the metal.

"You were the one behind the scenes gathering information on us, weren't you?" Pein's expression didn't change.

"So what if I was?" Sakura shot back.

There was another thing about this Sakura that was different, Shikamaru noticed. It seemed like having something to work for made her reckless. And being reckless was something geniuses couldn't afford.

He raised his hand, attempting to warn her, "Sakura, you're taking this too far—"

"Then you must know all about me and the chakra receivers."

"I do," she confirmed.

"Which means all the ninjas here know about it too."

"They know about it so they can fight you," Sakura clarified. Only after the words escaped her mouth did she realize that maybe that hadn't been the best idea.

Pein's eyes grew—if possible—even colder than they already were. "Then there's no choice except to kill every single one of you."

"_Dammit, Sakura," _Shikamaru hissed. "You didn't have to put a death penalty just on yourself, but then everyone else too?"

"I won't let him kill anyone else. He's dying here tonight," were the growled words.

Sakura tensed her leg muscles, and Shikamaru could almost _hear _the chakra buzzing around her feet. That was going to be one heck of a jump, but he couldn't let her leap just yet. "You're forgetting one crucial thing! He won't _be _dying here tonight—he's only a puppet of the puppeteer. To kill the puppets, you must cut the strings first and then kill the mastermind next."

The look that was shot at him was disdainful and not at all like Sakura. "Don't be imitating Kankuro's terms. I don't think he'll like that very much." And then she jumped, straight at Pein.

A couple minutes later, Shikamaru had hauled himself out of the crevice, preferring to use the old fashioned way and risk sore muscles than waste chakra. He needed to time his special jutsu perfectly for it to work, and besides, Sakura was a big girl. She didn't need help, as she so often pointed out.

Said kunoichi was currently using the sand-fog to her advantage, sending chakra to her legs so she'd run faster and make herself a harder target for Pein to hit. The long iron pole was still clutched in his hand.

He quickly analyzed the situation, seeking the possibilities and outcomes of this battle.

So, Sakura was doing an okay job of defense, but they had to go on offense sometime. Pein would be too strong to keep in his shadow technique alone; the best option was outside help. If only the sand wasn't in his way, he could see the others…

His body reacted on instinct, dodging to the side as a pole sliced the air where he'd been seconds before. Pein raised his hand, and the familiar reverberating shock raced through Shikamaru as he flew toward Pein. _Damn, not again! And this time, my throat's facing him! Will I die? _

The last thought briefly occurred in his mind before he hit… the sand?

No doubt about it, he was lying sideways on the ground. Question was, who'd pushed him out of the way?

A quick glance showed… Neji? And Kiba, Sai, Chouji, Ino…the whole gang was here. Wait, no, not everyone…

"Hey, Shikamaru!" Ino said cheerfully, kneeling next to him. "Are you hurt?" Chouji also wandered over, keeping an eye on Pein and the new allies. Shikamaru was slightly stunned by the sudden turn of events.

"No…" he said slowly, sitting up. Shikamaru eyed Kiba and Neji. They—especially Neji—looked kinda beat up; well, that was to be expected since Neji had practically single-handedly taken on the Human Path. "What—how—?"

"Well, we were all fighting the plant-guys and the Path with the long hair, you know? And then somehow we defeated the white plant-guy, or at least Chouji did. He squashed him flat!" She beamed at Chouji, who unfortunately missed it. "And Black Zetsu…well, I don't really know much about how they defeated him. I think Shino helped, and Kiba and Hinata. Neji was fighting the Human Path, along with a couple others, who are still fighting. We came to help you, after Pein was replaced by the other Path."

Shikamaru, for the life of him, could _not _know how girls talked so much without taking a single breath. It must be a kekkai genkai, female gender only.

"What about Naruto?" he asked, eyes narrowing. This would all be in vain if Naruto died against Madara.

Ino's brow furrowed, and she stood, also facing the battle. "I don't know…"

That was worrisome enough, and the sudden sharp sound that came slicing through the clearing sand just added to his tension.

"Naruto!" Sakura gasped, head flying up. She hated herself for being so weak in her mind and so strong in her body; she couldn't do anything. When others came, she gladly let them fight what should've been her battle.

The high, screaming sound came again, and her mind placed the noise. It was the Rasenshuriken, something she'd only seen Naruto do once. And the effects had been devastating…

The sand had all but cleared now, and almost absent-mindedly, she heard the clash of what seemed like a thousand different jutsus hit Pein, and the sound of something falling to the ground. Then came a slurping sound—were they taking the chakra receivers out of the body? Smart, must have been Shikamaru's idea…

"Sakura…" It was Sai. "What's going on over there—?"

Just as most of the Konoha forces directed their eyes over toward Naruto and Madara's general direction, a blinding light lit the dark sky like a flash bomb. Even after squeezing her eyes shut, Sakura could still see the dancing rainbow afterimages.

She pried her eyes open as quick as her body would allow, straining for any sign of Naruto…anything! Her legs moved on their own, leaping over the rocks and running toward the spot with Naruto. She vaguely heard others chasing her, crying her name, stumbling over their own feet.

Sakura flew by the motionless body of a Path, a squashed White Zetsu, and continued on. Desperate, fearing what she'd find, yet she couldn't stop her disobeying feet.

Her worst dreams confirmed.

"Naruto," she breathed again. Strangely enough, there was no tears in her eyes, no sobbing whatsoever. Maybe her emotions had dried out too much for her to feel anything but numb. Blissfully, sweetly numb.

Her fingers trembled as she reached and touched his hair, spiky yet soft under her fingertips…and when he didn't move, that was when it sunk in. And yet, she still couldn't cry.

Faintly, Sakura felt presences surround her, murmuring in shock and all staring at the figure on the ground.

"Please…Naruto… don't die. I didn't want you to die," she pleaded. "You're still my best friend, and even if you'll never be anything more to me…I'm sorry. Wasn't that enough?"

She wasn't sure what or who she was talking to when she cried the last question, heartrending in the bleeding red sun spreading its rays over the desert.

And suddenly, Naruto moved, a slow turning of his head.

Everyone froze, but Sakura let her eyes remained focused on the shimmering blue before her, eyelashes dusted with a fine coating of sand. "Don't apologize for me…not someone like me, Sakura…I'm sorry, not you. I will never be sorry enough," he whispered into ending night and dawn of the new day.

"Never…"

A few minutes later, Naruto was gone, and the Konoha 10 were trudging their way home, feeling like they'd gained a new insight … and yet, lost something too.

Only Sakura could really identify the loss, and that was because she'd seen it in Naruto's eyes.

That understanding between them earlier had been misjudged by her.

There was no longer any bit of the Naruto she'd grown up with anymore…

All that was left in those empty, lonely blue eyes was a stranger.

* * *

><p><strong>(1) For a lack of a better term, the thing the daimyos used to see each other while deciding the allied shinobi forces or whatever.<strong>

**Well, the beginning a/n was long, so I'll keep this under wraps: I've said this before, but things, update-wise, can be getting a bit slow around here. Life is in the way :'( *tear* I'll try and update quicker than this one though! And I know this chapter didn't have a lot of Naruto, and I'm sorry. Not much I can do anymore. He's the main character, but Sakura and Sasuke are both important in this fic too.**

**Also, this chapter is a bit rushed (as in, I didn't explain the death between Zetsu and stuff) well, I wanted to get a move on from this stinkin' battle that's been taking…what, three four five chapters?.! So … yeah. Explanations about everything = next chapter! Mwahaha!**

**TBC!**


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**A/N: Hey. So, as I said last chapter, it was a bit rushed, especially around the Sakura and Pein and Shikamaru part. Most of the stuff will be -kinda- explained in this chapter, which is -kinda- like (in my opinion) a new 'arc', sorta. Because everything's different now, you know. And before anyone asks, I don't know how long this fic will be DX I've got the ending planned though…**

**Disclaimer: I don't know why the lawyers keep insisting Naruto isn't mine! Hey…what's that straitjacket for?**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Seventeen<strong>

_Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. _–Seneca

_Dreams have only one owner at a time. That's why dreamers are so lonely. _–Erma Bombeck

His hand reached down and sifted through the fine grains of sand that slid through his fingers smoothly, elusive like water. The sun was hot on his head, and wearing all black didn't help.

Of course, that didn't bother Uchiha Sasuke much, seeing how he was the 'epitome' of cool and all.

But what _did _bother Sasuke was the distinct lack of dead people strewn around the battlefield. It was obvious a fight had indeed taken place, most likely just two or three days ago.

He jumped over the crack in the sand, just outside the ring of rocks lining a large bowl-shaped depression in the ground. A quick glance into the fault line showed nothing more than ten-feet-deep rocks. He leaped nimbly over one of the larger rocks, trailing his hand along the crack in the boulder. It was like someone had been smashed into it.

Sasuke headed for the cave in the middle of the sandy area. It had the most chakra traces remaining in the air, evidence of power used and forgotten.

However, a glance inside showed nothing more interesting than a long-abandoned fire and what looked like a twisted piece of rock. Some of the stone fragments shone like metal in the sun, and when he activated his Sharingan, he saw it was nothing but a genjutsu. Paper littered the floor, and the unmistakable crater marks of Naruto's Rasengan.

So he had been here, after all.

Which meant so had the Akatsuki.

Sasuke headed back out into the blistering desert heat. He had come straight from the Land of Water to here, following the same chakra traces that were lingering around this cave. From what else his eyes could see, Konoha shinobi had been here too.

Then if Konoha, Naruto, _and _Akatsuki must have been here, Sasuke didn't know why the whole place was still standing. By all rights, it should've been nothing more than rubble in the sand by now.

He traveled a little more, maybe two hundred feet before he encountered scorch marks in the sand. What was strange was that there were no particular burned area; just many marks, littered across like a child had thrown its blocks in frustration.

Strange.

Well, there was no use in this desolate place anymore. Neither Naruto nor the Akatsuki remained, and if he couldn't have one of them, he'd have the other.

It didn't really matter to Sasuke if Naruto died first—or Itachi.

_Who cares about what Nakami said. The only good demon here is a dead one…bonds are and always will be a waste of time. Everyone is a traitor. Pain rules above all._

_Or, are you just saying that to convince yourself?_

Sasuke banished the thoughts from his head. Ever since he had made the mistake of visiting _her_, suspicions and ideas and _doubts _had been spinning through his mind.

Yes, he would not be visiting her again for a long, long time.

The thoughts of Nakami led to her telling him about the Akatsuki, and inevitably, his hand clenched around the hilt of his katana, almost tight enough to draw blood.

She had to have known when she told him he'd never get there in time. It wasn't even that good of a bait to get him to stay…so why had she told him at all? What was her motives behind all this? Why was she so interested in Naruto, who she had _technically _never met? Why was she so interested in Sasuke's life?

He drew in a deep breath, working on clearing his mind again. A bead of sweat dripped down the back of his neck, reminding him of the sun and the rising heat. It hadn't been such a smart move after all, coming here in the middle of the day.

Sasuke let his eyes fade back to their normal black, ready to follow the chakra and see who he met first. This place had nothing left, just like Konoha and everywhere else.

Being lonely was a small price to pay for power, wasn't it?

He blurred into motion, leaving just the smallest cloud of dust where he had once stood, ignoring what his heart and feelings were telling him—had been trying to tell him all along.

Instead, Sasuke focused on the one thought that remained stubbornly in his head.

Just who was Nakami, and what did she want?

* * *

><p>Konoha seemed quieter now.<p>

It had always been quiet, somewhat, even when Naruto was around. It was quiet in the way that there was no killing, no crimes, no murders. At least, not as much as some other villages, like Kirigakure.

But even though Konoha had never been loud, the silence was unnerving to Tsunade. Maybe because she'd grown up in the time of war, and everything had been metal against metal, or iron against flesh. Death.

This time, Konoha was silent because its occupants were quieter.

The villagers still had no clue about what had gone on in the shinobi world outside, and since it was winter, most chose to stay home unless absolutely necessary. Some of the smarter chunin and most of the jounin had figured out that a battle had occurred, recently, after seeing scars of a terrible fight on some ANBU and special jounin.

And all the ninjas that had been sent to Suna were strangely silent.

At least, on the outside.

Tsunade was no fool. She knew what was going on in her own village, and she knew enough to listen beneath the quiet cover.

The rumor mill had started, and was functioning full force. Whispers of red demonic eyes and a purple chakra that seemed unreal floated through Konoha's streets, passed from one ninja to another in conversation.

There was everything from the Kyuubi to a figure in a mask with Akatsuki robes circulating Konoha, and the hardest part about Tsunade's job was finding the truth from the lies.

"Are you sure about this, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked. It seemed that her apprentice was getting more and more forward by the day.

"I'm the Hokage, and you shouldn't be questioning _my _choices," Tsunade snapped in a rare fit of anger. Okay, maybe that had been unnecessary, as she took in the hurt look on the other's face, but the past few days had been rubbing her nerves raw, ever since that message from Gaara had arrived and her ninjas had returned home.

The message hadn't been that bad, really. Just a few words written neatly on an ordinary scroll, nothing special. Words had never caused anyone harm—just the meaning of the words strung into a sentence.

Gaara had wrote, _Your shinobi are back, and you were right. They were exemplary, as in none died. But they were sad to inform me that Naruto seems to be … different. They will explain more when they return home. _

It had made Tsunade want to punch her desk, and had waited the three days eagerly, anticipating the moment she could gather the Konoha 10 in her office and interrogate them.

The interrogation hadn't gone exactly as planned either.

The instant they'd all came crowding through the door, Tsunade knew Naruto wasn't the only one who was different. They had all changed, whether they liked it or not.

There was something about her ninjas' eyes, something sorrowful and—what was that, guilty? Guilty they couldn't kill their friend? Guilty that they couldn't m—not murder, but cause themselves pain?

That had caused Tsunade's lips to tighten and she blurted, foolishly, the first thing that came to her mind. "Why didn't you kill him? You have failed your mission."

Eyes had sparked at her comment, flashing dangerously. It was like provoking animals—these ninjas were tired from everything, mentally and physically, and she'd called them into her office straight after they arrived home. So, she couldn't really blame them for snapping back at her.

"I know you mean well, Hokage-sama, but—"

"It was our _mission_—"

"—you weren't there…"

"You don't know what it was like! He was completely different from the Naruto we knew!"

"And he's changed even more now."

"The Kyuubi…"

"Uzumaki Naruto is a stranger to us," Sakura said, and somehow, those words silenced everyone else's loud objections.

Tsunade focused an eye on her student. Yes, everyone had something _different _about them, but Sakura more so. "What do you mean by that?" she addressed the younger girl, ignoring for now the others remarks.

"He's changed," was all she said, mirroring Neji's earlier comment. Sakura crossed her arms, almost like she was cold. All the Konoha 10 had on ratty black ANBU cloaks, to Tsunade's curiosity. She ignored it.

"I'm asking how did he change!" Tsunade sounded frustrated. She also had suffered this past week! Tonton whined a bit from Shizune's arms.

It was Sai who answered her, the one who had most recently met Naruto in comparison to his companions. "Before the attack at Suna, something was already wrong. He was colder, not the idiot I remember, and besides that… more ruthless. More angry. More like Uchiha. More like the Kyuubi. In fact," Sai continued, "he let the demon fox take over his body, _willingly_, when the fight was about to start."

He looked like he was going to go on, if Tsunade's eyes hadn't widened. Sai paused, cocking his head almost like a bird. "Continue," she said quickly, waving a hand. She was proud her voice didn't waver.

"The Nine-tails said some strange things, like Naruto's whole personality was about protecting Konoha and loneliness now, anger, things like that. The fight was turning deadly, especially with Sakura"—he'd actually called her by her real name—"but then the masked Akatsuki interfered…he stuck a sword into Naruto and took him away."

Tsunade's expression darkened, but she already knew the part about the Akatsuki. "I know this, tell me what happened when you found the Akatsuki!"

"I'll tell this," Shikamaru interrupted, and Sai inclined his head to let the other speak. "It was surprisingly easy to find the Akatuski, actually. There were probably reasons for that, but it was handy for us, especially since Naruto didn't die. I don't know what they did to Naruto before we found them, but he looked pretty beat up. Kiba's group found Naruto first, so I guess they should tell this part…"

Kiba nodded, taking over momentarily. "Shino pointed out Naruto first. All the Akatsuki were surrounding him, like sick predators or something… and then he suddenly jumps up with this orange chakra all around him, attacking the masked Akatsuki guy…" He shuddered.

"Madara."

"Huh?"

"His name is Madara. Uchiha Madara," Tsunade said with perfect seriousness.

"Uchiha? Like…Sasuke's relative?" Ino was confused. Obviously, Sakura hadn't filled her in like she'd promised.

Tsunade waved her hand again. "Explanations later, after I hear from Kiba. What happened?"

"Well, we got ambushed by Zetsu, who was actually pretty strong. And then I didn't really pay attention to Naruto's side of the fight until Shikamaru arrived..."

"We got there," Shikamaru took over again, "just in time to see Pein stab Naruto in the back." The Hokage's reaction was a sharp intake of breath and a slight narrowing of eyes. Damn, this lady was good when she wasn't angry.

He creased his own brow, remembering the details. "Madara talked a bit, trying to anger us. It worked on some of us"—his gaze was directed at Sakura, who merely shrugged it off—"but I think he delayed too long, because Naruto suddenly sprang back up with purple chakra that looked like fire covering his body.

"It got confusing from there… It appeared as if the fox had half-merged with Naruto, and we were forced to modify our plans a little. Short story, we took out some Paths, while Naruto handled Madara. After all of us defeated Pein, we found Naruto and no Madara." Shikamaru's voice showed its first sign of hesitation.

"And Itachi wasn't there through any of this?"

Shikamaru shook his head as a 'no'.

"Strange." Tsunade straightened in her chair. "And this is where you failed your mission, correct?"

"You could say that, but you knew all along we didn't have it in us to do it." The strategist's words were hardly an accusation, yet Tsunade felt it hit her like a bullet. "Just like the Kyuubi. He said we would never have the strength to kill Naruto…and we didn't. That time. That time, because we still knew Naruto _that time_, no matter how different he seemed. Some shred of him remained."

The Hokage laced her fingers together, unable to stay still. Her eyes darted among the other members of the ones who had befriended the vessel of the Kyuubi. Chouji, Kiba, the quiet Hyuuga girl… Tenten, Gai's miniature clone, Neji, Sakura, Sai… She knew almost all of their parents.

"I did know," she agreed. "I couldn't have stopped you anyway, could I?" Then Tsunade locked eyes with Shikamaru. "I sense a 'but' somewhere in there."

"But," he said predictably, "he's changed."

Tsunade was getting just the tiniest bit tired of all the '_he changed'_s floating around.

Sakura spoke then, twisting her fingers. "I—we—thought he was dead. Just lying there in the sand…but then he moved. Turned his head. And…" There was a tremble in her voice. "And he said _I'm sorry. _I'm sorry! Like he had anything to apologize for. It was all my fault, everything!"

Tsunade recognized this. It was the beginning of the denial stage, something she'd felt when Jiraiya had died. "It wasn't your fault, Sakura."

Her words didn't soothe the younger kunoichi. "It was!" Green eyes were pleading. "And because of me, all that's left of our friend is a stranger. A complete _stranger!_"

Tsunade felt a cold chill run through her, as her mind put together information from before and the new revelation. "So, Naruto seems to have completely reconstructed his mindset…but he might not, it's too soon to tell. If he decided that killing is more important than protecting, though, we could have problems…" It was then she noticed she was still among others, and drummed fingers on the wood desk. "The reason you can kill Naruto now…is because you don't know him anymore, correct?"

Most of the shinobi assembled nodded affirmative.

"Say it again, and we'll carry out Operation: Hunt Uzumaki Naruto," Shikamaru promised. "This time…without fail."

His eyes were just like his father's, Tsunade noticed. Steady and unwavering. "Very well, I believe you. For now, though, rest. You deserve it. Sakura, a moment please."

The rest of the Konoha 10 departed, and only Sakura stayed.

"It's not your fault," Tsunade told the girl again, who only bit her lip and stared—was it angrily?—at the ground. "Sakura, you care deeply about Naruto, right?"

"I don't love him," were the words that came from her mouth. They mildly surprised Tsunade, who blinked. Sakura seemed shocked too.

"I never said you had to. I never loved Jiraiya, though he insisted he loved me." A fond look briefly took over the Hokage's face, casting a dreamy air around her before her eyes sharpened again. "Sakura, look at me."

Sakura glanced up, meeting her teacher's eyes.

"Listen when I say this, and reject the idea immediately, okay?" The words themselves made Sakura wary, and Tsunade could tell. Still, she pressed forward. "Haruno Sakura, for the sake of your mental health, I want to take you off this mission!"

She used 'want' and not 'will' because this _was _her student's choice, after all. Even if Tsunade knew it would only cause Sakura pain, it was her choice. Her free will.

And Sakura chose, immediately and without hesitation.

"Absolutely not."

Tsunade sighed. "Why? You...need to get stronger before you're ready for this. You _aren't _ready."

"I've told you countless times before—Naruto is precious to me, precious to us. And since you've practically _given _us, his friends, the exclusive task of hunting him down… I'm not going to desert that. I need to talk to him one last time…let him know it wasn't his fault; never was his fault."

Tsunade was sure Sakura hadn't meant to let that last part slip out loud.

The Hokage sighed again. "Well, it was worth a try. I hope this ends out well for all of you, Sakura. You don't know how much you miss someone until they are truly gone."

Sakura nodded, something flickering in those eyes. She turned and was almost out the door before she hesitated, one hand on the door knob. "Sensei… Did you love Jiraiya?"

Tsunade started, not breathing for a long moment before she exhaled, letting out a weak chuckle. "Love…Jiraiya… no, I didn't, not in the way you mean. But it's impossible not to love the ones you care about, the ones important to you. When you meet someone like that, you give them a little part of your heart, and because of that, you automatically love them. And Jiraiya has a large part of my heart, so of course I loved him.

"Just… not in the way you mean it." Tsunade leaned her head into her palm, staring at Sakura's back. "Why? Do you love Naruto?"

"I don't," Sakura whispered, hand tightening around the doorknob. "Although if I had, if I did, if I _do_, this would've all turned out different, wouldn't it have?"

And then the kunoichi was gone, leaving Tsunade staring at the swinging door.

"Who knows, Sakura," she murmured. "Naruto might have still left. He's only doing what he thinks is right, after all."

* * *

><p>Naruto had had the strangest dream.<p>

First, he'd felt like he was floating over waves and waves of gold, never touching the ground until he got to some place with towering buildings made of wood and leaves. Then he'd climbed one of these buildings and had … gone to sleep. Yeah, gone to sleep in his dream.

It had only gotten stranger from there. He felt like some black wind had passed by, swift and deadly, gone too quick to completely categorize what it was. And then from farther away, maybe half a mile or so, Naruto felt like a big group of people had just jumped past. He didn't really know how he knew this, but he did. All this was done in that same tall building.

Next, a fox had come to talk to him, only this fox was the _size _of the building and mysteriously translucent, nine tails and all. It was also strangely bubbly, and was a deep orange, with the reddest eyes Naruto had ever seen. He had gotten the impression that this was an incredibly dangerous creature, one that ate fear for dinner, but he hadn't felt scared at all.

A very weird dream indeed.

He stretched, arching his back and letting his stiff muscles relax. It felt as if he'd been sleeping a long time; which he supposed was true, or else how could he have had such a long dream?

Naruto sat up, and nearly fell thirty feet to the hard, unyielding ground.

Only a quick snatch at the branch with reinforced chakra in his fingers saved him, and he wasted no time in clambering back on, heart pounding.

Why the hell was he in a _tree_?

Slowly, things from his dream trickled back to him, and the pieces clicked together. The tall building was a _tree_, and the waves of gold at the beginning had probably been sand.

_**You were hallucinating from severe chakra usage.**_

_Is that possible? _Naruto quickly responded, sitting up on his branch. His back still felt sore, and he wondered how long he'd been in this position. He peered at the sky through the leaves, and saw it was around nighttime. That probably explained why it was so dark.

_**When one has stupidly used as much as you have, it is very possible. **_It was then that Naruto got the _vaguest _idea that maybe the Kyuubi wasn't so happy with him.

_I'm sorry—_

_**That's no excuse for what you did! You nearly got us killed, if not for me interfering just enough to get us here. Using the plan when you **_**knew **_**you had so little chakra—it makes me wonder if you have any sense of responsibility at all! At least Konoha didn't have the guts to capture us in our weakened state; that would've been the humility of all humilities…**_

It was the moments like these that made Naruto wish the fox wasn't sealed inside him.

Ranting on and on and on about something _Naruto _did, when the Nine-tails probably couldn't have even done any better—well, excuse him for using 'The Plan'! If he hadn't, he probably would've died! A miniature rant raged on in his own head.

"Just shut up!" he yelled, startling a flock of birds into flight. The flapping of wings reminded Naruto that he was alone, after the noise faded.

Surprisingly, the fox did shut up, sensing Naruto's confusion. It was only now that Naruto sensed something wrong within him. _I feel different… What happened while I was hallucinating? The black wind…_

_**Was Sasuke. He passed without sensing us, thankfully, going toward Suna. **_The Kyuubi seemed more mild, curiously. _**The people were Konoha returning home, and I don't know why you dreamed about me as big as a tree.**_

Naruto didn't reply, drawing up his legs into his chest. The usual forest hum filled the air around him, so he wasn't alone—and yet, he felt like he was.

More so than before, ever before. Because his _purpose_, the reason he had gone through all this—the solitude, the pain, the enduring—had tried to kill him. Even if they hadn't succeeded, the knowledge was earth-shattering and hurt his head to think about.

He became aware that he was huddled in a ball, and quickly relaxed. "Why? What did I do?" Naruto whispered, reminding himself of all the times he'd asked himself that very question when he was small.

"What is my purpose in life now?" His voice grew in volume. "Who am _I_?"

The answer came from the Kyuubi. _**You are your hatred. Your purpose is to hate, to kill… to live.**_

"Live? Live for _what_?"

He didn't care if he sounded insane anymore. There was nobody to hear him. There never was, there never would be.

_**Everyone has hatred. A resentment, rooted deep inside them. Yours just happens to be stronger than most—**_

"But what do I live for? Hatred gives me nothing! Friendship gives me nothing! I _have _nothing!" His shoulders bowed, and he knew why he felt so different.

Who he was before had vanished, leaving nothing but a lingering ache and confusion inside of him. Just like when he'd released all the memories from their cages, the image of himself he'd carved out over the last two years had simply disappeared.

_A blank canvas, _Nakami had said.

_**What do you desire most, Naruto? Look into your heart, into your true self. Do you desire to kill? To kill the ones who hurt you, betrayed you? Kill everyone? **_

There was also something different about the fox. But he couldn't pinpoint what it was, and so he left it at that in favor of other thoughts.

Do I desire to kill? Kill the ones who hurt me…betrayed me…

A picture of Madara flashed before his eyes and he snarled, hands tightening. He knew one person he was going to kill, at least. The Uchiha didn't deserve to live.

And then something bizarre happened.

The faces of his ex-teammates appeared before his eyes.

Naruto reeled back, eyes blinking wide, almost childishly. No! He didn't want to kill his fr—his ex-teammates…he never did.

Did he?

_**You never did, but do you now? They tried to kill you…if you want to survive without a village, you have to learn to bury your heart and its desires…**_ The fox snorted. _**And face what's in front of you. Death.**_

"But to kill _them_? When all their crime was to try and kill me, on orders?"

_**They could've stopped it if they wanted to. You know they could…but they didn't. **_

Why was the Kyuubi beginning to make sense?

_**And the Hokage could've sent anyone to kill us, but she sent them. They're the traitors, not you. **_

"But they're still—" Even Naruto could tell that his voice was faltering. Weakening. Breaking to the fox's words.

_**Nobody said you had to kill them right away… Just don't hold back next time they come. And they will come for us, even though I warned them all again and again. **_

The demon laughed, familiar noise reverberating through Naruto's mind, ringing in his ears. It was evil and loud and brash.

_**Target the ones you desire, Naruto, and I'll help you achieve it all. Killing is merely a pleasure for me, and on this path, you will have no doubt at all. **_

"Not any?" Naruto whispered, hardly aware that he was still talking aloud. Blue eyes gazed unseeing into the distance.

_**None, **_the Nine-tails promised, voice deep. _**They will never be strong enough to defeat me—us. Never. Just say the word and we will be invincible.**_

Lies were mixed into the Kyuubi's words, but Naruto couldn't tell. Not when he was wiped blank after everything that had gone on in Suna. _A blank canvas. _And a blank canvas is easily painted on, staining it with dark colors by whatever happens to catch it first.

The Nine-tails was too convincing.

"My new prey… will be Konoha and Akatsuki. Nothing but them."

The fox's laughter rang through Naruto's mind again, a dark rolling thunder. Excitement was clear in his voice. _**Shall we get started then? On our new path. **_

Naruto stood, jumping nimbly down to the floor. He sifted forward, almost floating. Conviction slowly grew in him, strengthening. Yes… The Kyuubi was right. He had to destroy the ones who'd hurt him so much.

A pool of water was nearby, and he went to it, scooping up the cool liquid and splashing it on his face, relieving it of the caked sand. Naruto let his hands drop to his sides, examining his face in the water.

It may have just been the dark, but his eyes looked mysteriously more purple now. Or was it red?

Almost distantly, like a figment of his imagination, he heard the words, _**And on this new path, I will be free. I will! **_

Naruto straightened, eyes narrowing disdainfully at his reflection. It made him look like a completely different person, someone calculating and narrow-minded. "I hate you," he told the picture, who did nothing but stare back at him with the same expression.

He turned away, shaking his head. He must've gotten a concussion too—why would he talk to his own _reflection? _

Naruto drew chakra to his legs, getting ready to raid a nearby village. He needed supplies.

He ignored the words of the fox.

It was probably just his imagination anyway.

* * *

><p>Madara's eye hurt.<p>

The ice fixture over his eye helped, but only temporarily. Healers couldn't fix his eye because of the damage he'd wrought on himself, so he'd have to get it replaced as soon as possible. He didn't want to, because replacing an eye was always such a messy and long ordeal.

Still, if that was the price to pay for survival, it was a small one.

He pushed himself into a sitting position, lying on a white bed that looked frighteningly similar to a hospital cot. The ice fell off into his lap, and Madara cracked his neck after setting the ice carelessly aside. He was wearing the mask that looked like the infamous _(but dead)_ Hatake Kakashi's, at least till he could get a new one made.

They were in Pein's 'home', the place that always rained. A movement in the corner of his right eye brought him glancing at the door. Itachi's familiar figure stood framed, eyes black for once.

"Well? Do you know the jinchuuriki's status?" Madara's voice was impatient.

"He's healing," were Itachi's monotone words. "Konoha has also returned to their village. It seems everyone has drawn back into their shells, for now, like we should. It's a brief period of recovery."

"I suppose that's aimed toward me, too," Madara said lightly, standing up fluidly without wincing. His ribs were wrapped tightly, after they'd discovered he'd fractured a couple. "That last fight was quite…tiring. The most fun I've had in a while."

Itachi didn't reply as Zetsu poked his head in. "Tobi's awake!" exclaimed the white side.

"Why do you call him that?" Black Zetsu hissed. "It's Madara…"

"You recovered? Good." Madara nodded before asking, "How?"

"It wasn't that hard, just regenerate a bit…" Zetsu shrugged. "We were tired though. Right now, it's just a clone speaking to you. The real us is still resting. We figured you'd want a report."

Madara let out a small grunt of agreement, sitting back down onto the bed. "What about Pein and Konan?"

"Pein's Paths are resting, and so is Pein himself…he's tired out from using so much chakra. Konan had to go back and collect the bodies that the Konoha shinobi destroyed, so she's resting too." Black Zetsu gave that report, leaning against the wall.

"If anyone else had joined that fight, we would've been dead," White Zetsu remarked, unusually serious for once.

Madara pulled on the Akatsuki coat hanging over the back of a chair near his bed, shrugging into the clean outfit with ease. He'd gotten used to one hand quickly. "We would," he answered, "because we underestimated him. I did too. And next time, if Itachi—"

Itachi shot Madara the deadliest glare he'd seen in a while, and it even caused a small shiver to run down his spine.

Obviously, Itachi didn't want Madara telling everyone that he hadn't joined the fight. He smirked. Itachi must want Zetsu on his side, at least for a little longer.

Madara broke the eye contact first. "Why don't you go rest," he suggested smoothly, and Zetsu melted into the ground. Then his eyes found Itachi's again. "Sit. We have things to discuss, now that that's out of the way."

Itachi sat, cloak settling around him. Most of the Akatsuki wore their cloaks all the time, if only because of its notorious reputation. "What have we to talk about?"

"Your brother…and Naruto. Why you didn't help in the fight."

"I didn't help because I didn't want to," Itachi said, unexpectedly angry—or as close to angry as he could get. "Let's not forget who's the stronger one here, _Madara._"

Madara felt his eyes glow red. "Yes, let's not forget…" He gave a chuckle. "Settle down, Itachi. Violence isn't the solution to this problem." _'Yet'. _"Anyway… Naruto is stronger, but only with the Kyuubi's help. They've reached an agreement, for now at least. It won't be long until the demon begins to control the boy; after all, that's how demons act."

Itachi didn't reply.

"He isn't stupid, at least not completely," Madara mused. "The Nine-tails must have told him by now, don't you think, about my influence in his seal?"

His expression darkened abruptly. "I assume you saw from wherever you were _hiding_"—he deliberately stressed the word—"Naruto's last move. It was so similar to the Fourth's…" (1) Madara's gaze was condescending. "Although you wouldn't know. You were only a child when the attack on the village happened."

"And you're merely an old man who tries too hard to fulfill his ambitions, enough that he would sacrifice countless lives to do so," Itachi said stonily back. "But violence is not the answer, Madara, right?" He mimicked the other's words.

"You're right," Madara agreed. Mind-games were just so fun. "So Naruto's grown smarter. That's something we'll have to watch out for… and make sure Konoha doesn't get to him first. We'll need to retaliate soon, or else it might be too late."

"Why are you discussing this with me?" Itachi asked suddenly. "I've never been your favorite. You don't play favorites."

For once, Madara stayed quiet, looking contemplative. A minute went by before he answered. "I suppose… because we're talking about the role your brother will play in all this too."

Itachi was truly a master of emotions, he observed. As his eyes remained locked on the younger Uchiha's face, nothing changed. Not a tightening of lips, or a flicker of _something _in those black eyes. Nothing. "What role could Sasuke possibly play in your twisted little plan for world domination?"

"He's intertwined in this, Itachi, as much as you and I are. Simply because you killed your clan, set him on this path, he is fated by destiny to join us. One way or another, I will have him." The words were delivered calmly, severely.

"You're starting to sound like Orochimaru."

"I don't want him for his body—he is a weapon. With him by my side, I cannot lose. Not even to Naruto." Madara's smile widened. "Because of _you_, your brother is like this."

Itachi stood. "This is wasting my time." He turned his back on Madara, stepping toward the door, only to stop when Madara spoke.

"You put on a very good ploy, Itachi. I can almost believe you don't care about Sasuke."

Itachi made a 'hn' kind of noise. "I don't care about him."

"Then why didn't you kill him?" Madara watched in amusement as Itachi left, refusing to answer his question. "I can see right through you, Itachi. My Sharingan will always be more powerful than yours… This isn't going the way you imagined it, is it? It's all true, you know."

Talking to himself wasn't abnormal at all.

"Because of you, Sasuke will join me. How does it feel to know that because of _you_, my plan will succeed? Eye of the Moon… such a fitting name."

Madara laughed.

Far away, Itachi smirked.

_Don't get too cocky, Madara… you haven't won yet._

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Know what I'm talking about? Kudos to you and free ramen-n-cookies. Hint, during the Fourth and Madara's fight…<strong>

***spoiler***** Little temporary rage corner: Kabuto is freaking stupid! He brought **_**everyone **_**back to life! I knew about Asuma and stuff, but **_**Haku?.! **_**And Neji's dad? You had to drag so many people into this? GAH! I think this means it's near the end of Naruto, though, because Kishimoto's reusing so many people, which means they won't come back again… I hope it's not the end! D: *****end spoiler***

**Ah-hem, now then… As you've probably noticed, updates are more sporadic. I blame it on school. So that's just a warning, or whatever! Hoped you all liked this chapter, reviews are appreciated, yada, yada. A big thanks to everyone who did review! :) (like always) Luv ya.**

**TBC!**


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**A/N: Eh, whatsup? So, I noticed something. Most of my quotes are really depressing T_T Also, this chapter I wrote a bit differently. I wanted to try it out, and I used more unimportant OCs than I did before. They won't show up in any other chapters. **

**Disclaimer: Naruto ain't mine but I really wish I owned it. Then I could get a new, NOT-crappy computer.**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Eighteen<strong>

_The body can forget and the soul can forgive, but the heart cannot do either. _–Unknown

_We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone. _–Orson Wells

Her head tilted back to take in the sign again.

Yep, that was definitely it. She glanced down at the piece of scrap paper in her hands with the words "BBQ shop" hastily scrawled on it in messy boy's handwriting. The shop _looked _close enough to a BBQ place, judging from the smell of meat wafting through the air.

"Are you going in?" someone asked from behind her, and Hinata glanced over her shoulder nervously.

"Ah, yes," she answered quickly, hands unconsciously bunching and crumpling the piece of paper. "Sorry…" Hinata pushed open the door to the restaurant and a hidden bell jingled, announcing her arrival.

The shop was busy, even though it was nearing eight o'clock at night. In fact, most of the people trickling in now were jounin men and women, coming for a chat or a drink.

Hinata took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. It wasn't like she was alone here. People were waiting for her, and she strode forward across the dusty wooden floor with purpose. Pale eyes scanned the crowds that clogged the tables, searching for anyone she knew.

Ah! There, a flash of brown and white. Kiba. And beside him was Shino.

She wove through the crowds and servers carrying heaping platters of fresh meat, waiting to be grilled. "Kiba-kun," Hinata said, tapping her teammate on the shoulder. He turned half-way in his seat, grinning widely when he saw her.

"Hinata! Come on, we saved a seat for you." He motioned to the seat next to Sakura, across from him. She hastily sat down, and noticed uncomfortably that everyone else was already there.

"You aren't late, don't worry." Sakura's words were low and comforting, and Hinata relaxed. She tucked the piece of scrap paper away in her pocket as Sakura continued. "Although Chouji _has _been salivating for the past ten minutes. I think he eats too much for his own good." She let out a light-hearted laugh, and Hinata couldn't help but comment.

"You seem a lot happier now, Sakura." She twisted her fingers in her lap, keeping her eyes down. Maybe Hinata had become more self-confident over the years, but saying things so outright like this still made her queasy.

It was like her worst fears were confirmed when nothing but silence came from Sakura, and Hinata glanced up, eyes wide. "I-I didn't mean—"

"Hah, Hinata, don't worry about me! I'm fine. I've come to terms with myself, and in the end, that's all we really need, you know?" Sakura's smile looked a little fake and the happiness in her green eyes were all too unreal.

Still, Hinata was nice enough—and timid enough—to not say all that out loud. Instead, she nodded and smiled too.

Oh, the masks people had.

"So, Hinata," Ino called, leaning over the table from Sakura's left in order to see the Hyuuga girl, "I heard you're being sent on a mission with Kiba and Shino to the Land of Hot Water tomorrow! Aren't there good hot springs there?"

Shikamaru frowned. "It's far away."

"Not that far, you lazy-bum," Ino corrected. "It's by the Land of Frost, and I heard it's beautiful!"

"Maybe," Hinata said softly. She noticed that Chouji had flagged down a server and seemed to be ordering a feast. So they would eat soon?

Sakura swirled her drink in her cup, catching Hinata's attention, and she wondered vaguely if it was sake. No, Sakura wouldn't drink. "What's your mission about?" Sakura asked abruptly, startling Hinata.

"Um, it's a B-rank infiltration mission. I think we're being hired by someone who's suspicious of the daimyo there, but I'm not all that sure about the details…" She trailed off and Kiba took over, his voice carrying loudly over the din of the restaurant.

"We're meeting him tomorrow! Apparently he's a real jerk." Kiba's voice was a bit too loud. Hinata wondered how long they'd been here waiting for her. She didn't think her father had meant to keep her that long, and the note had said seven forty-five…

She glanced to the side of the large round table, catching Neji's eye, who smiled and turned back to his conversation with Tenten. Even Sai was here, pleasantly sitting at his spot, reading a book.

"That's funny," Ino said, hushing all the others at the table. If possible, her voice was even louder than Kiba's. "I just remembered; we're going on a mission too! Except ours is just a boring old bodyguard mission."

"Ino," Shikamaru cautioned, stretching his arm behind his head. Chouji broke a pair of chopsticks beside him. "That's supposed to be secret."

"All we're doing is guarding an old man," the blonde scoffed. "A rich old man. Nothing special about him."

Sakura made a noise next to Hinata, who glanced over in confusion. She shook her head. "Nothing, Hinata. I was just reminded of an early mission Team 7 had…" Her gaze was distant.

"You still think about them a lot, don't you?" Hinata asked softly before she felt like smacking herself. What a stupid question! Of course Sakura did—

"Nobody can replace the dead and gone. It's impossible to fill the hole somebody has left in your heart"—Hinata opened her mouth. Sakura rushed ahead, cutting her off—"_but_, that doesn't mean others can't enter your heart either. We will always receive and we'll always give. That's the way of life." Then she laughed, unexpectedly. "Wow, I sound so cheesy! Anyway, I do miss them. They were my whole life."

Hinata couldn't speak. After all, what could you say to that?

She looked up to see waiters carrying vegetables and meat over to their table, grill already hot and ready to go. Dinner would be ready soon, and she broke her own chopsticks in preparation.

A voice made her jump out of her mini daze, and she glanced at Sakura again. "Tsunade's been giving us missions that'll keep us occupied. Did you notice that?" Sakura took another gulp of the liquid in her glass.

Hinata nodded as Sakura kept speaking, swallowing her drink. "You wanna know a secret? You can keep a secret, right, Hinata?"

Maybe she was drunk, just a little bit, Hinata mused. Was it right of her then to nod her head? What if Sakura wasn't supposed to tell her 'the secret'?

She licked her lips and found herself wishing for a cup of water. What should she say?

In the end, it didn't matter because Sakura just kept talking, even waving her hand in the air. For someone who acted half-drunk, her eyes were remarkably clear and sharp. "Tsunade-sensei wants us occupied. She doesn't want us going after Naruto again, I can tell. Well, we're not babies! We can take care of ourselves—"

"Maybe she's just worried for us," Hinata suggested, pursing her lips after the words emerged from her mouth. Sakura didn't seem to notice the interruption though.

"—and we don't need her interference. She doesn't know what's best for us, we do, and Shikamaru just as much told her so! Tsunade doesn't know anything. And if she thinks she can stop us, she's dead wrong. We'll leave without her permission." Sakura scowled, taking a big gulp of her drink again. Hinata was now sure it was sake or the like.

Hinata's eyes were wide. She'd never heard Sakura—sweet, gentle, Sakura (but with an attitude)—talk like that! Sure, she was headstrong, but Hinata hadn't known it was this bad. _It must be the drink, and Naruto-kun's recent encounter, _she decided.

"The meat!" Chouji said excitedly. "It's ready at last!" No one bothered to stop him as he collected twelve pieces and shoveled them onto his bowl.

After Chouji had taken his fill, everyone else hesitantly (or not so hesitantly, in some people's cases) grabbed vegetables and grilled pork. Hinata took a small bite and chewed, still watching her teammates.

Her friends.

They all seemed happy, she was glad to notice. But for most, the happiness was only skin-deep, like Sakura.

It had been like this for the past two years, and it wasn't going to change now. Not until they captured Naruto, or killed him, though Hinata shuddered to think like that. It was funny how nobody ever thought of bringing Naruto home, but they'd all thought of rescuing Sasuke.

But that had been for Naruto's and Sakura's sake, and since nobody that was really _important _to Sakura was left, she simply didn't care as much anymore.

Hinata felt herself sigh, and ate some more. She blinked as a new set of voices rose to her ears. They were male, and when she glanced behind her, showed two freshly made jounin. They were probably out celebrating.

It was the words they said, however, that made her stop cold and freeze.

"Haven't you heard of the fox? What are you, stupid? Remember, the Kyuubi that attacked eighteen years ago?" The jounin that spoke had a bandana, and he nudged his friend, who already looked drunk and tipsy. "They say it destroyed Konoha."

"Heh, of course I've heard of _that_. Bet you haven't heard of _this_, though." The drunk jounin lowered his voice—or rather, probably tried to lower it. Since he was already saturated by alcohol, though, his voice merely grew louder. And Hinata could hear it all.

The bandana man sounded impatient. "Well? If you have something to say, say it!"

"You need to learn patience," the other slurred, letting out a laugh that could pass as a hiccup. "But since I'm so nice… do you know what a jinchuuriki is?"

Hinata, facing the table with her eyes focused on her bowl of rice, felt Sakura stop moving from next to her. The jounin, oblivious, rambled on.

"It's someone who houses a demon. They're obviously demons themselves; who can have a demon in their mind and not go insane? What's weird is that the Kyuubi himself was sealed into a person—and they say he came from Konoha."

The bandana jounin laughed it off, even slapping his friend on the back. "Good one, Akiu! I almost believed ya there." He was raising his hand to hail a server when Akiu suddenly jerked violently on the bandana jounin's sleeve.

"_It wasn't a joke," _he hissed. "Haven't you heard the rumors, seen the people coming back from Suna? They were in a battle—obviously with the jinchuuriki!" Hinata found herself abruptly staring into Akiu's eyes, sharp and focused. She jerked, her own eyes wide, and turned to face her table. _When did I even look? I don't remember._

The rest of her teammates were staring at her. Kiba broke the silence first. "Is something wrong, Hinata?"

She was about to shake her head when the bandana jounin's voice rose over the shop's noise. "So why haven't I heard of this so-called 'jinchuuriki'? If they say he's so dangerous, shouldn't he be here?"

The Konoha 10 froze too. Kiba sported a deer-in-the-headlights look, and Neji's brow was furrowed in concentration. The drunk jounin, now sounding appropriately tipsy again, snorted.

"It's obvious, Taiki. He got banished. He was so evil, so hated, that they drove him out of the village." Akiu made it sound like even the dumbest idiot should've figured out this.

Hinata heard a crack and she lifted her head to see that Chouji had snapped his chopsticks in half. Shikamaru, lazy as he was, didn't look far from doing the same thing. Sakura's head was bowed. And the ignorant jounins still went on with their frighteningly loud conversation. The one that all of the Konoha 10 could now hear.

"Psh, I still don't believe you. There's no such thing as a jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi, and if they did drive him out, it would be more dangerous than keeping him in here! Who knows what he's doing. He would be a menace, killing things left and right." There was a pause as the server came back to the jounins' table. A clink told Hinata that the bottles of alcohol had arrived.

Akiu resumed. "And that's why they were fighting him! In Suna, remember? It all makes sense."

"Too you, maybe," retorted Taiki, but even Hinata could hear the strains of doubt in his voice.

"I'm right," Akiu insisted. "He was a demon. He deserved to be kicked out of the village."

And that's when it happened.

Wood snapped and flying blurs rushed by Hinata, straight for the two behind her. She whipped around in shock, staring at Kiba and Lee and Sakura… Sai, Ino, Tenten… they were all fighting. Fighting for Naruto; fighting people who were merely badmouthing him—someone they didn't even know.

Hinata could understand why they did it.

But at the same time, she knew she had to make them stop.

After all, from now on, they were only going to hear worse. Unless they never emerged into public again, after the recent battle, rumors would be everywhere and suspicions confirmed.

Hinata clenched her eyes shut, and took a deep breath, ready to yell _"STOP!" _when someone did it for her.

"Stop!"

Her eyes fluttered open at the shout, amazed to see that everyone before her had stopped too. Akiu had a black eye and Taiki had a bloody nose, Lee's hand outstretched centimeters from the bandana jounin's nose. Sakura's fists were clenched, and Chouji looked about to go into his expansion jutsu.

Tsunade strode forward, expression angry and worried all bundled into one. "What do you think you're doing?"

The two new jounin gasped, recognizing their leader. "Hokage-sama," they both murmured before Taiki glared at Lee. "They started it. We didn't do _anything_, and suddenly they just attacked us!"

"Tsunade-sensei—" Sakura attempted.

"You know how you all sound?" Tsunade snapped. "Like little Academy brats, that's what! He started it, she did… it doesn't matter. Brawling in a place where citizens can see you is very unprofessional! I have a mind to take you off the missions each of you respectively have tomorrow." She glared.

They had the respect to stay quiet, docile under the Hokage's hot gaze. Shizune fidgeted behind her. "I think that's a little harsh, Tsunade," she whispered, but the older woman just batted her away, flapping her hand.

The Hokage crossed her arms. "And to make me come in here too. I hope you all have this issue resolved. Taiki, Akiu!" The two jounin looked shocked that Tsunade knew their name. "Let's not speak of that subject again. Nothing good will come out of it." Her gaze was chilling, and both nodded stutteringly before rushing out of the building. It was only then that Tsunade let her eyes travel over the Konoha 10, frowning at whatever she saw. "Come, let's talk outside." She turned on her heel and the mixture of chunin and jounin followed, like puppies on a leash.

Heads quickly looked the other way when the Konoha 10 passed, as if afraid of catching a deadly disease. Of what, Hinata wasn't quite sure, but it was a little amusing that all the ones at the shop were villagers now. What could they be afraid of?

The night air was cool outside, a wind blowing through the street. It was still winter, and there was a chill biting the air and nipping at any uncovered skin available. The Hokage didn't seem shaken, however, as she stood with arms on her hips. Instinctively, the Konoha 10 made a line facing her.

She scanned them before focusing on Lee. "Why were you attacking him, Lee?"

Lee was prompt with an answer. "We all heard them—they were talking about Naruto."

Tsunade looked like her worst fears were confirmed. "I knew it…" she muttered. "What were they saying about him?"

"They were saying stuff like _he's evil _and Naruto was a demon. Like being a jinchuuriki automatically means you're unable to be trusted or something!" Kiba growled, obviously frustrated. Akamaru yipped.

Conflicted emotions battled their way across Tsunade's face, and she took a quick breath. "I'm not going to let you be so disillusioned anymore," she said swiftly. "I think you've all known this for a long time, but it's reality now. You have to face it: Naruto turned traitor. He is a missing-nin, an enemy of Konoha… and when he left here, he not only shattered you all—I've seen you picking up the pieces he left behind—but the trust that he'd so sparingly gained from the villagers."

She schooled her expression into one of indifference, in contrast to her words, pleading and begging, almost. "And in return, they forgot him. A price must be paid for every sacrifice. If the ninja of this village decide not to trust him, there is nothing you can do about it. I'll be the first to admit it, if I had only made them contact the mountain, then we might've been saved…"

"You're telling us to forgive and forget." Sakura's voice was colder than Tsunade's.

The Hokage tightened her lips. "If you cannot prove yourselves capable of that, you cannot have the responsibility of carrying out Operation: Hunt Uzumaki Naruto."

A silence settled over the Konoha 10 at the ultimatum clear in Tsunade's words. At last, they carefully assented, murmuring among themselves. As they began to break off into little groups of one and twos (_Hinata wondered how such a carefree evening had turned so bad_) Sakura clenched her jaw.

"You know, I'm happy I'm leaving on the mission tomorrow," she hissed. "That way, I can be out of this stupid village for a while! Konoha has done nothing but cause me pain."

And she whirled on her heel and vanished into the darkness.

Her teammates and mentor could only watch as she disappeared.

"We all feel the same," Tsunade whispered. "You aren't as alone as you think you are."

She wasn't quite sure who she was talking to.

* * *

><p>Kawazu Tetsuya was a nobody kind of ninja.<p>

He knew it. Even his looks were ordinary—brown hair, brown eyes, average height. He was no master at jutsus and his taijutsu was at best passable. He could barely throw a kunai straight and had more than once accidently put himself to sleep using a genjutsu.

Sometimes, Tetsuya wondered just how he'd even gotten to be a ninja.

But if there was one thing Kawazu Tetsuya prided himself on as a shinobi, it was the fact that he loved his village before all others. With no wife and no children, no lovers and no girlfriend, he had the energy to spare.

That was why he was so surprised that Uzumaki Naruto had managed to get into his village, unnoticed, undetected…even though he was on guard duty.

Of course, at the time, Tetsuya didn't know it was _the _Uzumaki Naruto—the wanted man, the jinchuuriki, the demon. No, but if he thought back on it, he wondered just how he had missed it.

The day began quiet and clear, the sun peeking through its blanket of clouds for once. He'd been assigned the main road leading into the village to guard, and was paying careful attention to each and every person who passed through the gates.

Which wasn't a lot.

The village was a small one—and even that could be an understatement. It didn't even have a name, so most referred to it as the Village. Maybe twenty to thirty people passed through it altogether in a week, usually going to some bigger country farther on. Still, the people in the Village were happy and content with their peaceful lives.

Only two people had passed through the gates so early in the morning: a merchant selling wares and an old lady. Tetsuya had evaluated each one before passing them on, and was whistling when _he _came in.

One second the boy was far away, a speck in the woods, and the next… he was down the street, past Tetsuya.

The man blinked, eyes opening wide. What…wasn't he back there? Who was the kid? His hand found his weapon holster and he strode purposefully toward the boy in black and orange.

"Hey you," Tetsuya began, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. It was hot, almost too hot.

But the cold look the boy shot him through crystalline periwinkle eyes was chilling.

And not quite human either. There was an intent in them that made Tetsuya shiver, and he quickly stepped away from the stranger. He kept his hand on his holster, ready for a fight at any time.

It never occurred to him he might not win.

After all, when you love your village, you don't care about the consequences.

Tetsuya felt his own plain brown eyes harden. The boy still didn't speak, only continuing to stare at him through narrowed eyes. He swallowed a little before shaking his head.

What was he so afraid of? It was only a kid, maybe eighteen or so years old.

His resolve cemented, he ordered, "What's your name and what village are you from?"

The only sound for a minute was the wind, whistling its merry way through the village. Tetsuya frowned. He was about to ask again when—

"It's not important."

He felt like groaning. Really, of all the people, it had to be a stuckup little snotty brat who thought he knew everything? "Look here—"

"If I said it's not important, it isn't _important_!" the boy hissed abruptly, baring his teeth. There wasn't anything there, but the _way _he did it… it was like the kid thought he had fangs or something. An involuntary shudder went up Tetsuya's spine.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to detain you—"

He was cut off again. "I'm sorry, I was being rude earlier," the boy said smoothly, as if the eruption before had never occurred. His expression was calm and serene, and for the first time, Tetsuya noticed the boy had whiskers. Three on each cheek, and the blondest hair he'd seen in a while.

"I'm just here because I need supplies. I'm going toward the Land of Sound; my aunt is expecting me in a couple days." He offered an apologetic smile.

Tetsuya felt instantly at ease. "Oh, of course! I'm sorry, it's just policy. We don't want anyone disrupting the Village, you know," he said diplomatically. Curiosity nudged him. "Say, it's a bit cold to go to the Land of Sound right now, with the Land of Frost so nearby. Is your aunt okay?"

"Fine," the other answered shortly. He began fidgeting, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Even though it was winter, all the kid had on was a thin black T-shirt. "She will be, at least."

It was clear he wanted to leave, and unable to find anything else suspicious about the boy, Tetsuya nodded. "The stores are on the right."

The boy grinned in thanks before strolling nonchalantly down the dirt path.

Tetsuya felt sort of proud of himself. He liked helping travelers along their way—it made him feel good, like he was doing something for the community.

Never mind that there was something just a _little _odd about the kid… maybe the way he moved, with an almost feline grace, despite his muscular stature, and the way his eyes were sharp and focused, like a predator…

Tetsuya shuddered again. No, what was he thinking about? The boy was probably just a traveler, a farmhand or something like that. Not a ninja, not a missing-nin. That was completely out of the realm of possibility. Nothing ever disrupted the Village, and it wasn't about to start now.

It was only after night fell and he was tucking into his bed, warm and comfortable, that he realized something. The boy, who had been on his mind all day (even though he'd never seen him again) …

He didn't even know his name.

* * *

><p>He bounded through the trees, enjoying the feel of wind against his skin. Winter was always one of his favorite seasons—not that there were that many to like.<p>

Naruto finally stopped after he was a good deal away from 'the Village'. What kind of stupid name was that, anyway? He snorted, unwrapping his cloak from around his arm.

The shopkeepers were ridiculously gullible. A little genjutsu and five minutes later, he had a new cloak and food to last three days at least.

Proud of himself, he took a piece of ham and popped it into his mouth, chewing. The salty flavor burst across his tongue as Naruto jumped to the ground, pulling his black cloak around him. It was warm and thick, but smelled funny.

He twisted his face as he wrapped up the rest of his food. A small chuckle burst from his lips as he thought of the man he'd met in the Village. Who did he think he was?

No, the shopkeepers weren't the only ones so gullible—the man had honestly believed that he was going to the Land of Sound. Like Naruto would ever go there. Orochimaru had lived there, for God's sake! Now, if the snake-man was still _alive_… that would be a different story.

Naruto stretched, licking his lips. So, provisions were set. Next…

Konoha? Or Akatsuki?

Through all this, the fox was strangely silent. Yet Naruto could feel its mind brewing away at something, could taste the bitter dregs of anger.

Not for the first time, Naruto sneered. He knew the fox was up to something; the fox couldn't be trusted. The feeling was mutual, he was sure. The Kyuubi had something up his sleeve, and so did Naruto.

All he was doing was using the demon fox.

As long as the Nine-tails thought he was in control, everything was okay.

But Naruto knew who was really the predator here. And that was all that mattered.

* * *

><p>Sasuke stepped into the pitifully small village.<p>

Compared to Konoha, or even Orochimaru's hideout, it was tiny. His mouth twisted in disgust as he walked down the main road, not bothering to disguise himself. He doubted anyone _here _knew who he was.

A voice rang out not far behind him. "Sir! Sir, stop!"

He didn't stop.

Uchiha Sasuke didn't take orders.

He continued walking, eyes focused off somewhere ahead of him. The brown walls blurred into oblivion on either side of him, and so did the people. It was nearly sunset now, and his stomach was growling for food. Stopping here for a few minutes couldn't hurt, he supposed.

It was then that a hand fell on his shoulder, demanding and heavy.

Without wasting a second's hesitation, Sasuke grabbed the wrist of his attacker, and with one swift turn flipped the man over so he lay on his back, winded and dazed.

Sasuke glared down at the plain, ordinary man. Wait. Was that a forehead protector?

Was this miserable excuse of a man a _ninja?_!

Unbelievable.

To his credit, the man snapped straight up, albeit favoring his wrist a little. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Do you automatically assume things of all your travelers?" Sasuke replied coldly. His gaze was black and endless.

The man quaked. "N-no…of course not! We've had our share of suspicious travelers these past few days though, and it doesn't hurt to be out on our guard." His chin lifted, proud.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Suspicious travelers? Who?"

"Tell me who you are first and then I may tell you," the other man challenged. Sasuke almost smirked. This guy knew how to trade, at least.

"Uchiha Sasuke." He didn't care if the man knew who he was. He could easily wipe this whole town off the earth, and nobody would notice or care.

But the man didn't seem to know, which made Sasuke wonder just how secluded was this town exactly?

"I'm Kawazu Tetsuya," the man said. He seemed to have forgotten about Sasuke's demand, so Sasuke took the liberty of reminding him again.

"Who were the suspicious travelers?"

Tetsuya frowned and glanced toward the sunset. "It's getting late…" he hinted. Sasuke felt his patience grow short and his left hand tingled. "Uh, you look hungry, Uchiha-san… why don't we get something to eat? I'll tell you then."

Sasuke let the other man lead him in silence. His gaze almost burned holes in the other's shirt.

Uchihas are not patient people.

This time, the man started without any prompt at all. They were at a bar of some sort, with pork buns that Tetsuya bought without hesitation. Sasuke just sat there, his own food untouched.

_These people are all fools. Who just tells someone information? _

"So," Tetsuya said, leaning forward conspiratorially. "It was just yesterday, in fact, and it was only one traveler. He was an ordinary man, I think, but there's just something about him…"

_Him._

Sasuke stored the information away.

"What did he look like?" Sasuke prodded. The man finished chewing before he answered, eyes thoughtful.

"You know, that was the strange part. He didn't look anything like people from here… but then again, neither do you, Uchiha-san." He laughed. Sasuke didn't. "I guess that's why you all are travelers, after all."

Sasuke's hand twitched again. He could almost feel the lightning around it.

Tetsuya must have picked up on his impatience, because his tone grew hurried. "Ah, he was blonde and blue-eyed. Actually, they were more of a purple…and he had whiskers on his cheeks…"

Sasuke stopped listening after 'blonde and blue-eyed'. Naruto.

Well, well, his prey wasn't very far from here at all, was he?

"…moving with a grace that was almost unreal. There's just something about that kid…" Tetsuya shivered.

"Naruto," Sasuke murmured, unaware he'd said anything out loud until the man asked _"Huh?" _confusedly. "Nothing." Sasuke waved his hand away. "Did the stranger say what he wanted?"

"Hah, he was just a kid," Tetsuya scoffed. _If only you knew… _"Visiting his aunt in the Land of Sound. That's all." He shrugged, looking at ease in the wooden booth. "A nice kid, but there was just something creepy about him."

Sasuke made no noise as he slid from his seat and started walking toward the entrance. If Naruto passed by here a day ago, the trail was already getting cold. He needed to hurry.

"Wait—Uchiha-san—!"

"Did you say Uchiha?" a deep voice cut in, suspicions written all over the words.

"Uh, yeah…" Tetsuya answered. Sasuke pushed open the door, finally allowing the smallest smirk to settle over his face as he heard:

"_Capture him! The guy who just walked out the door! _He's an S-class criminal! What did you do, just let him deceive you? Get him!"

But when the ninjas in the bar all clumsily stumbled into the twilight night, there was nobody left. Nothing but the swirl of dead leaves blowing on the wind.

Sasuke was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>So, yeah. You saw how the Naruto portion was written. Tell me if you liked it, didn't like it, didn't care… :) I most likely won't do it that way again, though. Naruto, you've probably also noticed, is gaining some Kyuubi-like qualities. Animalistic stuff. <strong>

**Just to let everyone know, my updates will (I'll try, at least) to make them all come out on Thursday. Same time as the Naruto episode! Whee! :P Hope you liked this chappie! **

**TBC!**


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**A/N: You know, sometimes I wonder what in the world possessed me to write a multi-chapter Naruto fic in the first place. It must be annoying to wait for a new chapter every week….T_T Can't say this chapter is my favorite, but I hope everyone likes it nonetheless! :)**

**Disclaimer: Working on it. I am, I swear, AND I WILL OWN NARUTO!**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Nineteen<strong>

_We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts. _–Patrick Henry

_It's so lonely when you don't even know yourself. _–Anonymous

One thing Naruto hated—actually, there was a lot, but not half as many as a certain Uchiha did—was indecision.

There were many reasons why he hated it, even more than loss of control. But the biggest reason was the fact that he could never get anything done when he was undecided.

_Konoha? Akatsuki? _

Another reason he hated it: the fox always decided that Naruto was weak, stupid, and could never figure out anything on his own. Therefore, he always butted his fat black nose in _Naruto's _business!

_**Go after whichever one is easiest! **_

And after deciding that Naruto was an incompetent brat, the Kyuubi would offer some meaningless, cryptic, terrible advice that always made Naruto more irritated than before. So yes, while there were some definite bonuses when the Kyuubi was sealed inside him, there would always be more negatives than pluses.

Naruto ignored the demon. The bark of the tree was rough under his fingertips, and looking down made his head spin with vertigo. He was high in the tree because currently, without a destination in mind, he couldn't go anywhere. And when one can't go anywhere, the best place to stay is somewhere you can hide.

See? Indecision sucks.

The fox, apparently, was getting annoyed of being ignored. The loudness of his voice startled Naruto, which almost made him drop a long, long fall to the ground.

_**Just go for Akatsuki! How dumb are you? Once Konoha hears Akatsuki—or you—are chasing the other, they'll find you like a fox getting a rabbit. Two birds with one stone.**_

_Gee, that's a pleasant description, _Naruto answered dryly, gingerly stepping onto a thicker limb so he could jump to the ground. When the Kyuubi had yelled, the carefully folded cloak in his lap had been kicked to the ground.

Naruto hissed in frustration when his pants got caught on another branch, and he whacked the wood away impatiently. Damn tree. Damn Sasuke. Damn Konoha. Damn everyone. This was all their fault. Every single thing. He wasn't quite sure how it had started from the tree to everyone, but it was their fault. It had to be.

_Except _you _made the decision to leave, _teased the unfortunately familiar sniveling voice.

_**Are you regretting it now? Do you wish you had stayed with your friends, your bonds… stay **_**weak**_**?**_ Great. Now they were double-teaming on Naruto, and he couldn't help but wonder just what that little voice was. It had to come from _somewhere _inside Naruto, right? And whenever it spoke, the Kyuubi usually wasn't far behind.

_No, _he answered the other two. _I don't. I never will._

That was all, as simply as that.

He reached the forest floor, encrusted with dead leaves and slime. A trail of ants crawled over a bunch of mushrooms near him, like a little army. He chuckled humorlessly as he scooped up his cloak and quickly leaped back into his temporary safe haven.

Naruto settled again, mildly thankful that the fox was leaving him alone, for now at least. Five minutes might not be that long, but when one has been listening to a demon fox rage about 'quit being a scaredy-cat and decide already' for … what was it, a whole day? Five minutes would be a relief.

He vaguely seemed to remember that back then—the hazy days—the Kyuubi had never been this outspoken. No, the fox had been subdued, taking every chance he could to claw its way into dominance, whispering tales about his hate into Naruto's dreams. _Waiting. _No, back then, Naruto had loathed the Nine-tails; he'd believed the sealing was a curse, and even now, if there was one thing he wanted to ask his father, it was _why_?

Why did you seal such a beast inside of me? Your son?

Only, the word 'beast' had been slightly changed into 'monster'. The two were very different things: a beast was an it, with no intelligence left. A dumb animal. But a monster… a monster had all of a beast's bloodthirstiness, its primal instincts, and cleverness to boot.

The Kyuubi was most definitely a monster.

And yet, Naruto couldn't be ungrateful to the demon, because of all the people and all the bonds he'd formed over his lifetime, it was only the Kyuubi, a _Bijuu_, that had stayed by his side. Maybe unwillingly, but he had stayed nonetheless.

How ironic, a demon for a fallen angel. How different were the two?

Soon, Naruto found himself drifting towards sleep. Ever since that long dream in the tree, near Konoha, he hadn't been able sleep, except for a few random naps here and there.

But before the bliss of slumber could embrace him, the growl of the demon fox was rolling through his head once more. _**You can't sleep! You have too much to do, **_he snarled.

_Pray tell me, what? _Naruto replied, blinking the drowsiness from his eyelids. When had it grown so dark? Time passed these days too quickly. Had it only been three days ago that he had visited 'the Village'? Or was it one?

_**You're rambling again, **_the Kyuubi accused. Naruto could almost feel the sear of his red-orange eyes burning into his mind. _**You need to focus, not dream. Dreamers are for the reckless. **_

_You're saying I was reckless before? I still have a dream, you know. _His tone was amused and light, but nobody could mistake the (even if it was imaginary) dangerous current running underneath the voice. Ever since Naruto had woken from that dream in the tree, after the first meeting in years—well, first that his ex-teammates knew about—with his former comrades, something had changed within him.

Naruto attempted to catalog all these changes he had noticed. He did tend to get distracted, but no more than before. Maybe it was the senses then? He could see a bit better in the dark…or perhaps he was just adapting to it. Did his nose smell things from farther away? Was his taste sharper, his hearing enhanced?

Or did he just make up it all?

_**Don't get a swelled head, **_the Kyuubi snorted, instantly crushing Naruto's hopes. Not that he'd had much in the first place. _**Your senses may be a **_**bit—**Naruto noticed the fox was careful to emphasis _'bit'_—_**better, but that's only because you used so much of my chakra lately. After a while will fade, like everything else about you short-lived humans.**_

There it was again, that same disdain the Kyuubi held for everyone and everything. Like just because in reality, the demon was taller than mountains and could crush a village with three well-placed swipes, that didn't mean in Naruto's _mind _he held any advantage over Naruto.

For God's sake, he was in a cage! He couldn't destroy Naruto's mind.

But Naruto knew that if let free, even if it was only while, the fox would overwhelm him. The Kyuubi carried too much hatred in his heart, and when sealed inside three jinchuuriki's lives—two centuries of captivity—with only one brief, tantalizing glimpse of freedom in between… It only made sense that the darkness would fester and grow, and in turn, taint anything within its reach.

Naruto had no doubt that part of him was already tainted.

_I'm rambling again, _he realized, a smile turning up his lips. He opened his eyes. When did he close them?

The night was silent and dark around him, undisturbed by humans. The only noises were the ones of the night, crickets and rustlings of creatures hidden in the shadows. An owl called, its long hoot ringing twice before it was swallowed up by the night, lit only by a sliver of a moon.

Naruto enjoyed the night, even though with his fair looks he would never fit in—not like Sasuke. The night's darkness enfolded you like a mother's embrace… something he'd never had. He waited for the usual accompanying hollow ache, but nothing happened.

_**Your mother is nobody you should be missing.**_

_What do you mean? _He couldn't help but defend someone he never even knew. The fox had only sparingly given out information about his mother. The only things Naruto knew was that she was the previous jinchuuriki, and she had red hair long and thick.

The Kyuubi laughed. _**Kushina was weak, fooled by love. She was a nothing, only pretending to live by your father. She never had the strength to combine our powers, like you and me, and when Madara came… she was easily overtaken, and that's why you are an orphan. **_There was no mercy in his low growl, and Naruto felt like a bucket of icy water had been thrown on him. His eyes opened wide.

"I don't believe you," he said out loud. Naruto's hand clenched in the fabric of his funny-smelling cloak.

_**What's not to believe? I don't lie to you… **_

Naruto gritted his teeth. It was like nowadays, the Kyuubi made a conscious effort to object to everything Naruto said, and to outright lie—of course the fox lied! Who was he trying to fool?

But what surprised him the most was after the Kyuubi's long, not-so-eloquent speech about his mother, he didn't feel anything.

Oh, there was the anger and automatic indignant response, but there was no pain.

Just like before, when he couldn't feel that hollow ache that usually came by when he thought about his past life.

_**You've changed, **_the fox said, almost triumphantly. _**You're on your way to becoming immune to weak feelings, which means your mind is becoming more focused. **_

_I'm assuming that's a good thing._

The Kyuubi either ignored or didn't know about the sarcasm that tainted Naruto's words, bulldozing on. _**Which means you have to choose. Konoha or Akatsuki? **_

Naruto's fist tightened again, nails biting into the skin. _Why do you always make me choose? _he burst out. His eyes were screwed shut and his whole body was tense and almost shaking. The tree had never felt so uncomfortable.

_**Why do you keep avoiding it? **_the Kyuubi retorted. _**Is it because you actually doubt it? **_

_I don't. It's all their fault, everything, _Naruto argued. He felt like he'd had this conversation a thousand too many times before. _It's _you _who keeps doubting me!_

_**I'm only trying to make you stronger. **_He noticed how the fox didn't exactly deny it either—it was pretty obvious, actually, that the demon thought Naruto weak. But then again, he thought everyone weak.

_That's what you always say, _Naruto replied bitterly. He couldn't suppress the emotion from welling up inside him, dark and dank like the water in the Kyuubi's cage.

_**And I'm always right. **_The fox had an answer ready, as usual.

Something snapped in Naruto. _Fine! If you always insist I have to 'choose', then I will choose! I choose to go get the Akatsuki first, because getting Konoha means— _Something choked inside him, forcing him to stop. He waited in anticipation for the Kyuubi to make some sarcastic remark about how Konoha meant something to him, but no, for once, the fox didn't.

_What? Why don't you finish it this time? _he yelled.

The Kyuubi was still silent, and Naruto briefly wondered if the fox had finally gone into hibernation or some crap like that. Was Madara near? Had he been put under a genjutsu without even noticing? His eyes flew open, scanning the area.

Finally, the fox spoke again, his voice a low and rumbling timbre. _**I'm here, idiot. I think your decision is a good one… it will take lots of energy to annihilate Konoha. **_

Once again, Naruto felt his eyes grow wide as his mouth formed the word 'annihilate'.

The Kyuubi could sense his confusion, chuckling. _**Isn't that what you wanted to do? **_

_No, I only wanted to get the people who— _

_**Mistreated you? Put a **_**death sentence **_**on you? **_**Forgot **_**you? **_Each word was like a sharp stab directly to Naruto's heart… if he had one anymore. Whenever there was usually feelings concerning the left area of his chest, it was painfully (or was it painlessly?) silent.

But the demon wasn't done, and he finished his hurtful words with a final: _**Which is everyone!**_

The aftermath of that roar sent waves pulsing through Naruto's head, and it felt like someone had blown up a balloon inside his skull and inflated it to maximum proportions. Basically, it felt like his head was going to explode. He should've known that arguing with the Kyuubi for twenty-four hours and counting, running on virtually no sleep, would never be a good idea.

He slumped on his branch, eyes closing tiredly and breath wooshing out of him in a huff. _I'm too…tired to fight with you anymore… _

Naruto could feel the demon's satisfaction as he retreated into the depths of his cage—at least for now. He summoned the last of his willpower, sending a threat echoing after the Nine-tails.

_I won't just cave in; you can't control me. _

The words were meant to be defiant, but they came out slightly weak. Naruto received a humorless laugh in return for his effort and could just faintly make out, _**Then what have I been doing this whole time? **_Or, something like that.

It was all his imagination… right?

Naruto's muscles relaxed on their own accord, unable to keep up the inner battle any longer. The tree wasn't exactly the best place to sleep, but it was the only safe place for now. And after the past year, he'd gotten used to a life without comfort.

Of course, though, when he slept, he couldn't just _sleep. _He had to have a dream. And one starring multiple people he'd rather not remember right now—to top it off, it wasn't even a very good dream, just a lot of flashes and words that he couldn't understand.

Itachi was there, but only for an instant, cloak swirling before disappearing into the blackness. Then came Shikamaru, lazy and managing to pierce Naruto with just one glance. Sai fake-smiled; Neji glared; a bark and Kiba's grinning, fanged face were all briefly part of his dream. Then Sakura was there, but she looked angry and not at all surprised like in Suna. "Why did you have to leave too?" she yelled, and everything became a blur of people from there. Kakashi gave him a cold one-eye stare, his voice harsh, "You forgot your teammates…you don't even deserve the title 'missing-nin'." Sasuke walked right by, practically blending into the black of Naruto's dream. He thought the Uchiha would go straight by without saying a word, but Sasuke unexpectedly turned and fixed on him a red glare that promised death. "You try to steal everything that was mine," he accused, "even my new goal. You're nothing but a thief, an outcast… You won't ever belong anywhere." Even Nakami put in a surprise entrance: "Did you forget what I told you?"

There was something alike in all their voices. They were all unforgiving, angry, with _Naruto. _He could only stare in disbelief as they all faded away. Hadn't he done the right thing? He had done it for the village! _For _his ex-teammates—!

"You did it for yourself," laughed a voice from behind him. Naruto spun to see himself—but it wasn't like when the fox had visited him in the Akatsuki's hideout. No, it was like himself, but with eyes, whites and all, black as coal. (1) "You're such a selfish, selfish person… They're all right. You only live for yourself and you become hated among them. They're the real hypocrites; we're just the unlucky martyr."

And then that Naruto too vanished, leaving behind nothing but whirling red tails so similar to those of the Kyuubi. '_**You're useless**_' echoed around and around in Naruto's head, and he gasped, eyes forcing themselves wide open from the nightmare.

It was only when he had steadied his breathing and cleared the images from his head that Naruto realized he was lying on his back… With a sword pointing straight as his throat.

* * *

><p>"Where is she?"<p>

Ino shrugged, rechecking her backpack to see if she'd packed everything she needed. Medical supplies, check, extra weapons, yes, more snacks in case Chouji needed some… Sai tapped her on the shoulder again and repeated his question. "Where is she?"

The blonde sighed, flicking her bangs out of her eyes and straightening. "I would ask who are you talking about, but it's clear you're asking about Sakura, right?"

Sai nodded, eyes serious. Ino studied him for a moment before looking away, unable to meet that dark gaze. Sakura hadn't been the only one that had suffered; even though Sai had known Naruto for barely a year, he had formed a bond with him too.

"I don't know," Ino answered, picking up her backpack and slinging it onto her back. "Why don't you ask Yamato-taichou? She wouldn't ditch her mission," she added when she noticed Sai didn't exactly look like the most believing of people. "Sakura isn't like that. Even if she looked really mad yesterday… she isn't like that."

"I know," Sai said. "I can't help but worry."

Ino smiled, her face lighting up in the early morning light. "You've changed, Sai, in a good way."

Sai gave a tentative smile in return.

"Ino!" Shikamaru called from the main gates. "We have to get going!"

Ino rolled her eyes and waved, jogging away. "See you in a week!" Soon, her team was out of sight.

A half hour later found Sai and Yamato still waiting. Yamato frowned. "Maybe Ino is wrong this time…"

"No, she wouldn't lie," Sai replied almost immediately. "We'll just have to trust her." Yamato gave a curt nod, and they settled back into their wait.

A movement caught Sai's eyes, and squinting, he could barely make out the figures of dog-breath and the shy girl. Once they drew nearer, Kiba yelled, "Hey, Sai! Whatcha doing here for?" Hinata remained quiet, and Sai noticed belatedly that Shino was behind the two.

"Sakura," was his simple reply.

"Oh, where is she?" Hinata asked, looking worried. All three sported thick packs for their trip into the Land of Hot Water, and her hand clenched around the strap. There were the faintest bags under her eyes, like she hadn't quite gotten the good night's sleep she'd wanted.

"Not here." Sai shrugged, mirroring Ino's move from before. "But Beautiful says she'll be here. Apparently Ugly wouldn't miss a mission." He gave a slightly fake smile.

"Hah, wouldn't want that going on her record," Kiba snorted. A bird called faintly and Akamaru's head swung up, facing the noise. "That reminds me, we need to be going. Kurenai said she would meet us by the waterfall, and I bet she's already there…" He trailed off meaningfully.

Yamato nodded. "Of course. Say hi to your sensei for me."

"We will," Shino promised, leading the way into the forest. Hinata hovered behind a second, worried expression still planted on her face. She bit her lip as Sai watched curiously.

"U-uh," she stammered in a surprisingly timid voice, "Ino-san is right. Sakura wouldn't miss a mission."

And with that, she ran off to catch up with her teammates, hair giving off a vaguely indigo tint in the sunlight. "She's a strange girl," Sai commented.

"But nice," Yamato added, closing his eyes. "Now all we have to do is see if what they all said was really true."

An hour passed again, and they saw Gai's team off. Sai spent the time drawing an abstract picture of swirls and shapes, whatever came into his mind. A whim made him sketch angel wings, so alike to the ones that Naruto had often left.

It was still such a mind-boggling concept, after two years, that they had managed to survive this long without him. Naruto was like the sun, warm and welcoming, but throughout their friendship, there still had been something inside him that was walled up. Closed, because of Sasuke. And just like the sun, if you got too close… it would burn you.

Footsteps padded softly on the path near them, and to Sai's relief, it was Sakura. Slow, looking worn, and tired, but it was Sakura nonetheless.

"Where have you been?" Yamato asked. There was no anger in his tone, no sternness in his features.

"Why aren't you mad at me?" she retorted. Her green eyes looked tired. They'd suffered through so much.

Sai stood, stretching out his legs. One of them had fallen asleep, he noticed. "Do you want us to be mad? Mad that you made us wait for three hours?"

"You should be," was all the answer she gave. A backpack sat on her back too, looking full and ready to go. Her clothes were rumpled, as if she'd spent a night in the woods. Judging by the look of her face and hair, she very well might have.

Without waiting for their consent, she trudged off toward the gates. Nobody could mistake the dejected air Sakura gave off. It was like she'd taken the burden of Naruto and Sasuke and Kakashi all on her shoulders, and sooner rather than later, she would break.

Maybe that was why Sai asked, "Then are you mad at Naruto and Sasuke for not returning, for leaving?"

She stopped dead, and even from this distance, Sai could see the tensing of her shoulders. "No." That one word managed to carry hurt and fury and tension and sorrow all at once. "But—"

"That's the same thing as asking us why we aren't mad at you," Sai interrupted. "You aren't angry at _them_, because you trust them. You made bonds with them. And we made bonds with you, so we understand what you're going through."

"You don't!" Sakura shrieked suddenly. A chunin looked up, startled, from his duty as a guard, but she ignored him. "You won't ever understand the pain of losing everyone you loved—everyone you knew—"

"Sasuke did, and so did Naruto. It had to have hurt him to leave us behind," Sai tried to reason with her. But like trying to fight a hurricane, it was useless.

She spun around, eyes sparking. "What do you know," she snarled, "maybe it didn't hurt him! Maybe he never trusted us at all. Maybe he just pretended! Maybe he was a _liar_!" Sai wasn't quite sure which 'him' she was talking about anymore.

"Or maybe he was doing it for us," Sai said. By now, he wasn't expecting a docile response, so it surprised him when Sakura abruptly calmed down. She tightened her fists, gloved in black.

"You're right," she whispered. "I'm making a big fuss over nothing, aren't I?" She looked him in the eye then, and he could see all the agony she'd suffered through the years straight down to the clear green bottoms. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off her chest and she could breathe easier now. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "Let's go."

Sakura began walking again, and this time, they let her take the lead, though Sai still wasn't completely convinced Sakura was okay. Yamato nodded a silent apology to the chunin, who looked on the verge of running screaming to the Hokage.

They had began moving again when Sakura suddenly said, "I won't leave."

"Excuse me?" Sai asked politely, or as politely as one could when jumping through trees like a monkey.

"I won't leave Konoha," she repeated, "because this will be the only place they can come back to. And if they do…when they do"—but those three words were said with a lack of force—"I will be here. Waiting, for them."

Sai could almost picture the soft smile on Sakura's face just then, and knew without a doubt it would be a beautiful picture to capture in ink.

"Now let's go infiltrate Amegakure," Yamato said cheerily, taking the lead from Sakura. "Why don't we see for real how the great 'Pein' is supposed to live?"

* * *

><p>Nakami felt like she'd just had the strangest dream.<p>

Well, not exactly _dream, _per say. How could it be a dream if her eyes were wide open the entire time? Maybe vision would be more appropriate.

She shut her eyes and let herself relax, sinking to the ground. The rocky floor had never before felt so comfortable. Nakami cast her mind back. What had she been doing before the vision hit her?

For once, she hadn't been mixing antidotes, she remembered. No, she'd been watching Sasuke.

It was something she did often; that and watch Naruto. Both had so different paths, yet they were almost completely the same. And soon, it would be the darkest part of both their paths. Only the future could tell if they would come into the light or retreat into the blackness again.

It was hard watching Sasuke.

Not that it had ever been easy. Nothing about Sasuke was easy—he just had that tendency to make everything so much more complicated than it needed to be. Even from when she'd been 'inside' him, it had been much more preferable to just be ignorant than actually pay attention to her (or his) surroundings.

Except then Sasuke _had _to go and make that option no longer a choice. Nakami felt something twist in her, like always, when she thought back to that day. Was trying to kill Naruto really the only option he felt he'd had?

Did he really let Naruto live on a _whim_?

Questions had plagued her during her short-lived life as a free person, wandering between villages like a ghost. There was no need for her to eat or sleep, and that made one's life very uninteresting. It was like living as an immortal.

Back then, her own path had seemed tangled. She didn't know who she was—why she was there—why she even existed. Was there a point to her seemingly pointless life? Was there a reason she'd been brought into existence? Was there a motive for 'higher ups'—if there was such a thing—to give her a curse like she had?

She had been lost, without even a name to call herself.

And then, she had started watching Naruto. It was like watching the sun, and when she saw Sasuke, it was like seeing the moon. _They were so different. And in the end, so alike. _Both had had their dark and light sides, just like everyone.

After that, Sasuke had found her, and she no longer had a life to live. In the first few months of her captivity, Nakami had found herself longing for the outside world.

No matter how boring it had been, it definitely was better than this hellhole of a cave, right?

Time passed. Slowly, her eyes had been opened, and she truly saw things for the first time…what her role would be, in this grand scheme of things. Whoever controlled these people's lives was a sick, evil god. Nobody had the privilege of making someone's life miserable.

Nakami began seeing her curse as a gift—a cursed gift, but a gift nonetheless. She began seeing the paths of others all too well, and unable to stop them from careening into disaster, all she could do was watch. And wait.

Wait for the inevitable. Wait for the deaths.

One choice, one delay, was all it took for everything to go wrong. Naruto was never supposed to do this; he was never supposed to become a missing-nin like Sasuke.

But ever since 'Ma', one of the toads training Naruto, hadn't come near Konoha to get provisions… they hadn't known about Pein. And because they hadn't known about Pein, Naruto took the entire burden on himself, believing it was all his fault.

These kind of things changed people.

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura… they were no longer the naïve children they'd been at the tender age of twelve. They could no longer pretend they didn't know about killing, about mercy, about cold-blooded murder. Some of them understood far more than they needed to.

If only's. They were the worst things in history.

Nakami opened her eyes again, blinking slowly. She could feel it: they'd changed from red to their natural black again. Shaking her head, Nakami smiled. She must be growing old, getting distracted so easily.

Settling back down, she took a deep breath. Where was she?

Oh yes…

She'd been watching Sasuke.

Ever since he'd left Suna, heading straight through Konoha's land, her red eyes had been trained on him. Nakami was pretty sure Sasuke had an idea she was looking at him, because more than once she could hear vague echoes of _'who is she?' _and _'my own business is my own business!' _

It hadn't really fazed her. It wasn't like he could do anything to her, anyway.

Somewhere in-between, though, she'd switched to Naruto. It was hard to pinpoint the exact time, since time was such an overused concept for Nakami, but she thought it to be around maybe the time Sasuke entered 'the Village' and the time he left.

When she switched, that had been a mistake on her part.

It was a small mistake—it wasn't like watching Sasuke the whole time would have done anything, really. Nakami's gift could only extend so far, and visual was the maximum of her prowess. Her Sharingan did not allow her to hear or interfere.

If one had the gift to interfere with others lives, when they were not even _with _them, that would be inhuman. Only demons and gods could do that; unfortunately, gods did not exist in this world. Demons did.

Watching Naruto was painful too. That didn't even need to be explained; he went through so much suffering, how could it not be painful?

Seeing him battle with himself—and most likely, the Kyuubi too—over a decision Nakami didn't even know about hurt. It was especially annoying when she watched Naruto, because he often carried conversations inside his mind, thus destroying any chance of hear catching their words.

Still, just watching him was enough for Nakami, like how just watching Sasuke was enough. For now, that is.

It was kind of funny. She had never met Naruto in her life, spare that one time a little over two weeks ago, and yet, she felt a connection to him.

Perhaps it was the superfluous connection like one reading a book and feeling empathy for the main character. Maybe it was a connection born from watching him act, seeing him talk, make new friends, walking through his life like a witness on the sides.

Yes, Uzumaki Naruto truly had a gift.

Unfortunately, he also had a weakness. And that weakness was his naïveté.

The only way to resist the fox was to have a firm belief that what you believed in was right. Naruto had held onto his dream of becoming Hokage like a lifesaver, later adding the promise of bringing Sasuke back. Positive things.

But in one moment of weakness, one slip up… could be deadly. The Kyuubi had struck, wily and cunning, aiming directly at the spots Naruto couldn't protect at the time. And in the end, Naruto had given in, choosing not to fight. From there on, it was only a matter of time till the Kyuubi attempted an attempt to completely take over.

It couldn't be long now, Nakami knew.

She shook her head again, a soft laugh breathing from her lips. Jeez, she really did ramble too much—and they said Naruto had a short attention span!

She slowly opened her eyes, staring at the strange pattern of rocks on the ceiling. From there… from that point…

Naruto had dawdled far too long, was all she could think. Staying in one place, no matter what indecision he might have faced, was deadly. And for a ninja like Sasuke, tracking Naruto down was no problem.

The image of Naruto, unconscious in his nightmare, couldn't have known that the Kyuubi had unintentionally (_or intentionally?_) let his chakra leak out, malicious and knowing.

Even the dumbest ninja could certainly sense the power and fury of a Bijuu's chakra; it was simply unmistakable. She saw once again the sight of that cold metal sword touch Naruto's throat, forbidding and unyielding.

Nakami stood then, brushing off her hands. Watching might be considered a curse, but it was certainly better than living their life—a wretched tangle of thorns and roses.

She smiled sadly.

Yes, she was a coward. And yet, all Nakami could do was hope that Naruto still believed in Sasuke, that Konoha had not yet given up on Naruto. All she could do was hope that her own path was what she thought it was.

Hope that maybe, she could still do something, instead of being forced to watch their lives play out like a movie with no 'stop' button.

Hope. It was such a fragile and stubborn thing…

_Just like a promise. Just like a dream. The human mind is so fickle—believing a bond can save a life is just foolishness, but at the same time... so tempting._

* * *

><p>Gaara looked down at his desk.<p>

It was piled with paperwork, as usual. Instead of doing it like he normally would have, though, he swiveled in his chair and placed his head onto his hands in his 'thinking pose'.

There was a lot to contemplate.

It seemed like years since they'd seen Naruto, even though it had merely been weeks. Nothing like the wretched two years without him, with only dead bodies as proof he still even lived.

Uzumaki Naruto.

Before, the name had brought a certain bond in mind to him—how Naruto had rescued Gaara from his little pit of darkness. If one was being poetic: how Naruto had rescued Gaara from the grave he himself had dug.

Only, who would have thought the good guy would turn evil and the bad guy remain good?

Life was such a mystery.

Gaara stood, unable to remain still. He paced by the fireplace, unlit as usual, and stopped for a moment, hands behind his back. Ashes littered the logs, a mark that it had been used recently.

It had; to burn the cursed scroll Tsunade had sent him.

To see the faces of the Konoha shinobi as they returned, beaten and losing another part of themselves every second… It was a slow torture. Did Naruto know that he was causing such pain?

Gaara was sure he didn't. If he did, he might have returned.

_It was so difficult to escape the fire of a demon's grasp—especially when you yourself formed that fire._

He narrowed his eyes, debating his decision inside him. The question had been growing ever since that conversation with the Hokage. Should he act? Should he wait?

Gaara thought back to the faces of Naruto's bonds. He heard the words "Operation: Hunt Uzumaki Naruto" from Tsunade's lips. He felt the pain that Naruto had unknowingly wrought on everyone.

Then he knew.

If this was just for Konoha, just a choice for them, Suna wouldn't have been involved at all. But before anyone knew it, the sand village was already deeply rooted in the drama. The battle had just cemented it.

No, if Tsunade thought that Suna would just sit behind while they let Konoha do all the work, she was wrong.

Gaara was done with sitting in the shadows.

From now on, Suna would join the hunt too.

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Dark Naruto, yes?<strong>

**Whoo! Almost have 100 reviews O_O although that might be because I have so many chapters…20 now! OMG! Heh. **

**I really love AMVs, most of them are so beautiful and sad (at least the ones I watch… hehe) Okay, that was random, but I was just watching one, so I felt like adding it. It reminds me of why I really love Naruto, the story, as a whole, in a way I probably will never be able to love another anime/manga. **

**Okay, done with all that. Anyways… Thanks for reading! :)**

**TBC! **

**P.S. But I am still obsessed with that AMV! Gahhh can't stop watching… **


	21. Chapter Twenty

**A/N: Eh, not much to say, except a thank you for everyone's favorites and alerts and reviews! Can't have done this without you all. :) **

**Warning: This chapter's a bit weirder than usual, darker, I guess. Some—well, not really gore, but maybe a little bit not really graphic descriptions of killing? Ehehehe**

**Disclaimer: Police report excerpt: '-ninja mode?- Sneaks to Kishimoto's house. Tries to hack open door. Fails epically. Is arrested.'**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Twenty<strong>

_How stupid are you? I'm the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox! I haven't fallen so far that a little baby can influence me! I'm a living mass of malevolence! –Kyuubi no Yoko _

_Tears are the words the heart can't express. _–Unknown

His arm slid through the sleeve of his cloak, the cloth settling around him in a familiar manner.

He cracked his neck once and stretched, feeling the pleasant not-quite-pain ache spread through his body. His torso twinged a bit, but it was mostly healed. The only thing that still bothered him was his eye, a reminder of his loss against Naruto. Because no matter what the other Akatsuki members said, Madara still believed he lost.

And losing, as many have learned, is unforgivable for those who called themselves 'Uchiha'.

Madara carefully placed his new mask over his face. It wasn't orange anymore, but instead red and white like the Uchiha crest. It hadn't been his idea—in fact, he wasn't sure whose idea it had been, but for now, it would have to do.

He strolled to the only window in his room, lit dimly with the ever-present rain. He was aware that recently Nagato hadn't been keeping it up, but with the new developments on Naruto and Konoha, he'd started again. Madara stared at the rain for a few more seconds before turning away and expertly pulling on his all-black glove with his teeth, flexing his fingers experimentally. He was set.

The corridor outside his room looked stale and not very clean, smelling of water and metal and a tiny bit of rust. Most of the buildings in Amegakure were made of pipes and the like, steel and iron; supposedly to keep the buildings from being destroyed by mold by the constant onslaught of rain.

His footsteps echoed hollowly on the unpolished floor. Madara encountered no other rooms in that particular hall, and opened the door at the end with a creak.

Another hallway greeted him, this one slightly more welcoming with brighter lights and dark gray walls. He let the door swing shut carelessly behind him, debating whether to go left or right. Madara was saved by his decision when paper fluttered together next to him, forming Konan.

"Pein wishes to speak with you," she said, the standard note of respect still in her voice. All Akatsuki members spoke to each other with some level of respect, if only to keep working conditions, well, workable.

It might not seem like it, but Akatsuki members could form bonds too. Although bonds of killing and bonds of death might not seem ideal, they proved strong enough to defend your partner's back in a battle. Because when one has nobody, the first thing that welcomes them often makes irreversibly loyal to that thing.

Madara nodded, and he could see Konan examining him from the corners of her eyes. He had two eye-holes in his mask even though one of his eyes still didn't work properly.

He frowned, remembering. Sucking the jutsu away had taken a lot more out of him than he'd guessed, and Madara was certain his current eye wouldn't be of any use any longer. If he wanted to keep operations running smoothly, then a new eye would be in need and immediately. Madara was a busy man... and he was tired of waiting.

A blink sent a faint thrum of pain through the same eye. It was annoying, he decided, turning to face Konan. A mask with one eye would have been better, because his eye right now could barely make out the blues and gold that made up the female Akatsuki.

Konan spoke first, regaining her manners. "Will you see him?"

It took barely a second for Madara to remember who she was talking about, and inclined his head, considering. It would be a good idea to talk to Pein and discuss strategy for next time; but then again Pein always seemed to be able to take care of the 'others', if there ever were any.

No. Pein could wait. There were some more pressing issues to address anyway. He met Konan's eyes, blank like a doll's. It was somewhat uncomfortable to see something dead-on with two differently focused eyes.

"I will speak with him later," Madara told her, blinking instinctively to try and clear the fuzziness. It didn't work, of course.

Konan's expression didn't change at all and her mouth opened cautiously to answer. "When would be a good time for you?" Was that a hint of mutiny in her voice? Or just his ears playing tricks on him?

"Just let him know I'll be dropping by soon," Madara replied dismissively, turning to head past her. She stepped back, letting him go by without commenting. The sound of paper falling through the air told him Konan had departed.

He continued down the hallway without any more disturbances. Soon, Madara reached a crossroad type of hallway, and he stopped.

"Which way to Zetsu?" he thought aloud. He didn't want to take a wrong turn and end up outside, where anyone could see the cloak and connect the dots. All the corridors were lit exactly the same too; to confuse any enemies, he supposed.

Still, right now, it was very annoying for Madara to figure out where to go. Rain was annoying. These buildings were annoying. This was why he rarely came to Amegakure.

He made a quick decision. Left. Hopefully, it would lead him somewhere—like to the other's quarters.

There were no rooms for a long time, and it stretched on long enough that Madara was seriously beginning to consider heading back when he turned a corner and found himself at a dead end.

Well, it wasn't exactly a dead end. It had a door, so to speak.

Madara examined the plain door for a moment before pushing it open. It was well-oiled and swung inward without a single creak, revealing a dark room. His eyes (or rather, his good one) could barely make out the vague, shadowy shape of a window on the far wall, curtains drawn tightly closed.

Unafraid, he stepped in. Even though he felt no fear, he kept his senses alert, scanning the dark room. It was a meager space, much like his own room, with a dull white cot and a door, presumably leading to a bathroom. And that was all.

"Empty, then?" he murmured, turning to leave.

"No, it's not."

Itachi stood in the doorway, blocking the light from the hall. His face lacked any sort of emotion, which was really by now no surprise.

"I was wondering where everyone was," Madara said, brushing past Itachi and exiting the room. He heard the other follow him with light, almost soundless footsteps. "Have they all recovered?"

"Zetsu's still running a little low on chakra, but he should be fine in a day or two. Other than that, everyone is fine."

Madara nodded, retracing the long path back to the crossroads. "Where is he?"

"I'll show you," Itachi replied, moving in front of the older Uchiha and taking the lead. He turned left at the crossroads, and Madara made a note of that. _North of my room is Zetsu's, west is Itachi's._

"Who lives down the east passage?" he asked curiously.

Itachi didn't turn his head as he answered. "The Paths are housed there. Pein himself lives higher, along with Konan." The north hallway was much shorter, and soon opened up into a bigger room, almost like a greenhouse but without the heat.

Rain pattered on the glass dome arching high overhead, darkening the room without meaning to. It was a rather bare room, mostly made up of rock instead of the usual iron.

A table was placed in the center of the open room, and that was where Itachi headed. He sat fluidly down into a chair, obviously done taking Madara around. He wanted to ask where Zetsu was, but it was clear the creature was around here somewhere, so Madara wandered over to the windows.

If he had been afraid of heights, the view would not have been a good one for him. The room was placed so it was soaring above the rest of Amegakure, and the city was sprawled beneath him, gray and damp.

It made sense that it was up high, actually, because since this room was open, anyone could see in and thus, see the Akatsuki members. Little colorful dots moved far below; the civilians trying to hurry out of the rain.

Madara snorted. It all seemed like a waste of time to him, keeping up the façade of being an 'angel' and 'ruler' of Amegakure. What could two rogue ninjas gain from being leader of a village, and not even a very powerful one at that?

They were powerful and had no alliance, which meant they were open prey. But oh well, whatever made them happy, Madara thought with a smirk. As long as it didn't interfere with his plan...

He glanced up and caught sight of the soaring metal tower that stretched even higher than the glass room. It looked spindly and unreliable, ready to fall when a strong gust of wind hit it.

That must be where Pein controlled the rain, he assumed. Madara saw no other tower higher, or even close to as high as this one, so he shrugged and turned back toward the middle of the room.

Itachi still sat there, calm and collected, hands folded across each other. There was something almost disturbing about his too peaceful expression. Maybe it was the fact that that expression would stay the same, no matter what he was doing. Eating (something Madara knew he had never seen Itachi do), killing, talking. It was all the same.

"Missing Kisame?" Madara asked, sliding into the seat across from him.

Itachi hadn't been—fond, so to speak, of Kisame. Not really. Even if Akatsuki members had bonds of hatred, that didn't mean they necessarily had to have bonds with one another. Still, the two had been good partners, complimenting each other: brute force and cunning speed.

"No," Itachi replied shortly. His fingers twitched in his sleeve, and Madara knew he wasn't telling the whole truth. Itachi's eyes sparked, daring him to say something.

"Tsk, you're always so short-tempered these days," Madara mock-scolded, leaning back in his chair. His one arm was placed casually behind his head, and only his feet kept him from falling over backwards. "I just asked a question."

Itachi chose not to respond, like Madara expected, and now without somebody to torment, he sighed.

Zetsu chose that moment to slink up beside him.

"Glad to see you're up and moving," the black side said silkily. Zetsu extracted himself from the ground, sitting in the chair next to Madara's. "Itachi."

The Uchiha nodded back and White Zetsu spoke. "We need more of the First Hokage's cells, if you want more clones, that is," he added, serious for once. Madara studied the creature.

Zetsu still looked like his old self: half black and half white, with the strangest green hair and leaves folding around his body, but he seemed—flatter, almost. Smaller. Not enough chakra or the cells, Madara supposed. He nodded.

"I'll see to it soon." Then he leaned forward, unable to help himself. "Any news on anyone?"

Black Zetsu frowned. "Not much, because we can't create clones. But we've managed to glean the fact that Sasuke and Naruto are very near each other. I suspect one or the other will catch up and meet soon." White Zetsu tried to nod, but his other side didn't let him.

"We—" White Zetsu tried, thinking that if he couldn't be in control of his body, at least he could talk, right? Wrong.

"_I _also have suspicions that the Kazekage is moving to join forces with Konoha, or make a move. Either one." Black Zetsu shrugged, and White Zetsu gave up, splitting from his other side with a strange ripping apart noise. "What'd you do that for?"

"You were being annoying," the white side grumbled. He folded his arms.

"That's all good news."

The other three stared at Madara. "Sasuke joining with Naruto is good news?" Itachi finally asked. "And the Kazekage, whom we beat just a few weeks ago, is good news?"

"Well, it'll be more fun," Madara answered lightly, "can't deny it." His eyes locked with Itachi's for a brief Sharingan showdown.

White Zetsu, oblivious to the tension, snorted. "Just need to keep your brother and the Kyuubi brat from killing each other is all."

Madara stood, nearly knocking over his chair and breaking the eye contact. "That can be arranged." He stretched. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with Pein. He's up there, correct?" His hand waved toward the general direction of the tower soaring above them.

Zetsu nodded, both of them at once.

"Well then, I'll be seeing you."

Madara warped away.

Itachi stood too, and Zetsu looked up, in the process of merging. "Where are you going?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed just the tiniest bit. "I also have an appointment to keep… there's a certain relative of my brother's that I have been meaning to investigate for the longest time."

Soon, Zetsu was left alone. The White side commented, just a little hurt, "Well, they sure left fast."

* * *

><p>Tenten panted tiredly as she struggled to keep up with Lee and Gai. Why did she have to be put on a team with her old sensei? She was a jounin now, and perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She drooped her head, feeling exhausted.<p>

Meanwhile, Lee was still running in place, a determined expression fixed on his face. "Come, Tenten! We don't have time to spare." Gai was running at an even faster pace next to Lee, sweat pouring off his face.

"We must train to help get Naruto back!" Gai grunted, unexpectedly switching to pushups. Lee copied his sensei and soon both green-clad men were chanting. "69, 70, 61, 72!"

"Neji, do something," she pleaded, flopping onto the ground. Tenten wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, wishing they were already there in the village. But no, Gai insisted they had to stop to 'train'.

Tenten had tried to keep up for the first ten minutes, then gave up. She wasn't as in shape as they were. After all, her job mostly consisted of throwing weapons and aim.

Neji watched from the sidelines, leaning against a tree. His white eyes were inscrutable and from the start, he'd denied training with them. At last, he spoke, while Gai was yelling, '99—100!'

"We should get going on our mission. If we don't leave soon, we'll be behind and have to return to Konoha even later." His voice was low and reasonable. Lee stopped to stare confusedly at Neji.

"But Neji, we can train here! It's a change of pace from our usual training spots, and it'll provide youth for our bodies," he tried to explain, but Neji didn't listen.

"I don't care about youth. I care about the mission. If we return home late and Tsunade has already assigned Hunt: Uzumaki Naruto's mission to somebody else, how will you feel then? Knowing you spent valuable time _training_?" Neji sneered the last word, and cut Lee off when he tried to talk. "So if you want to save our friend, then you need to stop training and get on with our mission! We're the closest to Konoha, so we can get done the fastest. Quit messing around!"

The last sentence echoed around the clearing, and even Tenten stared at the Hyuuga in mild shock. She recovered her voice first, although it was timid and small. "Uh, Neji, you… you didn't have to go and say all that, you know."

The glare that Neji gave Tenten sent her shrinking against the forest shrubs, quaking. "I didn't say anything," she mumbled.

"Well, I didn't know you were so enthusiastic!" Gai said loudly, slinging his pack onto his back. "We must be off, Lee, since Neji wants so much to finish his mission!" He struck a brief pose before jogging off through the trees, toward the civilian village about half a mile away.

"I am sorry, Neji," Lee told him formally, even bowing a little. "I didn't mean to upset you that much." He started to follow Gai into the trees.

"It's okay," Neji muttered, helping Tenten up. "I don't know what came over me, really." Tenten gave him a slightly concerned glance before also following the rest of his team.

Actually, he knew what came over him.

It was the feeling that had been plaguing him ever since they left the gates of his home. He knew Tsunade was sending them away for a reason, one Sakura had probably figured out, if her actions last night were any judge. And soon, the feeling had boiled over and manifested as anger.

He shook his head, wondering when his control had gotten so slack. Huh, Naruto always had this effect on him, even when he wasn't here. He really was annoying, managing to get under Neji's skin when he was probably a thousand miles away, killing more people.

Neji grimly followed Tenten, ready to vent what was left of his 'feeling' on the bandits plaguing the village. He pushed all thoughts of Naruto out of his mind, ready to face the oncoming battle.

The idiot never did know when was the right time to quit. All Neji could say was neither did they, his foolish friends.

If they did know, then they wouldn't be trying to kill someone who still mattered to them, more than they all wanted to admit.

* * *

><p>Naruto woke with a sword pointing at his throat.<p>

For a second, he couldn't do anything. His heart jumped automatically at the threat and promise of battle and bloodshed, the Kyuubi's anticipation pounding through him. The haze that fighting brought threatened to descend on him any minute, and Naruto struggled to fight it off.

He couldn't succumb yet, even though his hands twitched with longing and his nerves bunched tight. There was too much coiled up inside of him—he needed to let something about before it exploded.

Naruto squinted, blinking to try and see better in the dark. The moon had vanished behind a cover of clouds so he couldn't tell if dawn was approaching or not.

The cold kiss of iron on his throat brought him back to the present and his dilemma, and his eyes glared up. Who would wake him, deliberately?

Oh right, lots of people.

But who would _find _him? How could they have?

"You're awake."

The questions would have to be saved for later, Naruto resolved. The voice was unfamiliar but undeniably male, and he tentatively reached out his chakra, feeling for others.

They were there, masked, but poorly. At once, he remembered the pitiful excuses for _ninjas _at the Village, a good day's travel behind him. Could they be them?

If so, they were bigger fools than he'd thought. Right now, Naruto wasn't in the mood for playing nice. Anyone who got in his way would just get hurt, and badly. His hands clenched reflexively from beside him.

"I'm glad you can see in the dark," he snarled, blue eyes shining. They seemed to give off an almost animalistic glow, not quite as bright as a cat's but more shiny than a human's would be. Naruto felt the sword shake slightly. "Scared?"

"Of course not," was the aloof answer. The sword steadied again, and all around him the branches rustled as ninjas poured out of nowhere. They didn't attack, however, choosing to remain ready for their leader's command.

Naruto remained still too, wondering what the best course of solution could be. First of all, he would have to get out of this position. It was far too vulnerable. But that was the easy part. _Then_, he'd have to get rid of all this shinobi, so they couldn't go back and spread stories. There was a tiny pang of pity for them; the ninjas had just come to their deaths.

He was distracted when the stranger holding the sword spoke again. "Tetsuya?"

That name...

Naruto wondered where he'd heard it before. Tetsuya. Tetsuya?

_**The man at the village, **_the Kyuubi supplied helpfully, speaking up for the first time since Naruto had woken. _**The idiot one.**_

_Oh, right. _Him. He had been stupid, Naruto agreed. _Hey, could you help me?_

Almost before the words were out, he heard the fox's denial. _**You need to learn something for yourself. This will make you stronger, **_he promised, but all Naruto heard was betrayal.

_I thought you were supposed to stay by my side! _The words were angry, and he vaguely became aware of the fact that he was shaking infinitesimally all over. _You said! You promised!_

_**Pray tell, when did I do that?**_ The words were slow and hurtful, amusing. But Naruto felt no pain.

_Fine! I don't need your help. Just watch, _Naruto growled, _I'll kill them all!_

He blurred into action without waiting for a reply, grabbing the sword fearlessly and twisting it out of the leader's grasp. Shocked, the man let the sword fall hilt over metal to land on the ground.

Naruto was on his feet in a flash, fury written all over his expression. His eyesight suddenly sharpened—or maybe it had just adjusted to the dark—and he could clearly make out the man's features, sharp and scared. It was another ordinary looking ninja, gray hair and a vest.

He took no note of it, though, when he grinned. "Are you scared now? You should be, because you're going to _die_!" There was no compassion left inside him.

Naruto swung forward, hand clenching around the other's throat. The man looked like a frightened rabbit now, kicking futilely and getting nowhere. Slowly, as Naruto's hand remained firm, his struggles weakened and started to falter, and in the dim lighting his 'night vision' brought, Naruto could barely make out the shape of the man's mouth gaping like a fish's, gasping for air. His eyes rolled in their sockets, and with a last breath, the man managed to heave out, "Attack—him—"

The hand loosened its iron, too hard grip on the corpse, and Naruto turned, hearing the body crash through branches on its way down. Everything was silent for a minute before it exploded.

It was obvious that these were the ninjas from the Village, Naruto realized. They had no particular attack strategy, just throwing themselves off branches without a second's hesitation. Sharp weapons were usually clenched in their hands, and it was almost too easy to avoid them. More often than not, the ninjas would collide with each other and injure themselves; not to mention, fighting in a tree wasn't exactly the best place to fight.

At first, the ninjas kept to taijutsu and weapons. Naruto easily disarmed a few and stabbed others with their own weapons, leaving them to fall to their deaths. Crunches could be heard every few moments as people either slipped on their comrades' blood or was pushed off by others, or just killed by Naruto.

He grabbed a ninja who leaped at him, hand outstretched, and swung him into another kunoichi. They both fell, screaming, and Naruto winced at the noise.

Something slammed into his back, sending him stumbling forward into thin air. His stomach spun with vertigo briefly before his instincts caught on and his hand grabbed a branch, swinging back upward.

He was met with the sight of about two dozen to three dozen similar ninjas—no, not quite. They looked the same, but there was about three different types of 'same'. One group with black hair, one group that was skinnier than a beanpole, and one that looked positively puny.

If these could be called clones, Naruto might as well be considered the Hokage of Konoha.

"Who are you trying to fool?" he barked hoarsely, a strange laughing feeling bubbling up in his throat. His hands quickly formed the seal for shadow clones and fifty Narutos popped up into existence.

They swirled through the air, taking care of the clones neatly and quickly, also dispatching the original ninjas in the first place. After his clones dispersed, Naruto caught sight of a ninja trying to sneak some hand signs in.

The ninja fell with a kunai sticking out from his throat.

The rest of the ninjas were quickly killed after that. Naruto sent chakra to his feet and poured on the speed, slitting one across the throat and plunging the same kunai into another's heart without even letting the first fall to the ground. It was ridiculously easy fighting these people. Just a simple touch and an unbalanced wobble sent them crashing to their deaths.

Naruto risked a quick glance down.

It was littered with bodies.

He shrugged and kept going.

Soon, there was only one left. Tetsuya, wasn't that his name? He looked scared, and was practically cowering against the tree. "I-it's you—" he choked out through trembling lips. Naruto was almost impressed.

"Yes, it's me," he agreed. "Who else could it be?"

Tetsuya suddenly straightened, holding out his hands like he thought he could seriously _stop _Naruto. He must've been delusional if he thought he could. "Stay away from me!" he shouted. His eyes darted wildly around before landing on his friends' bodies. "They're all dead…dead…"

"Mm-hmm," Naruto agreed, feeling almost too playful. What happened to the battle lust raging through him just minutes before?

"I knew you were inhuman. You and the Uchiha were both freaks. Inhuman—monsters—"

Naruto's eyes snapped and he found himself with an arm pressed against Tetsuya's throat, the other struggling and gasping for air, much like his dead leader. "I might have spared your life—actually, no, but since you called me _that_"—his lips pulled back in an angry snarl—"you deserve to die."

He brought his hand back, chakra already beginning to whirl in it. Tetsuya's eyes widened so big Naruto thought they might fall out of his head. "Please—please no—" he blubbered.

A white hot sword appeared centimeters from Naruto's chest.

Tetsuya stared down at the katana, a little bit of blood bubbling through his mouth and dripping down his chin. Tiny crackles of lightning sparked around the blade, so sharp it had cut through bark and flesh.

Naruto felt a grin tug at his cheeks.

"Life was not on your side," Sasuke said monotonously as he stepped out from behind the trunk, drawing the sword out from the dead body. Tetsuya slumped to the side, eyes blank, and Naruto sent him on his way down the tree without mercy.

Even if somewhere deep inside him, he _knew _what the plain ninja had been saying was just a result of fear and adrenaline, it still made him angry. What gave him the right to judge Naruto?

Everything was silent for a second. It looked like a tornado had torn through the tree, which was miraculously still standing. Naruto felt his breathing calm down, and heard the first chirps of a morning dove return cautiously to the area. The clouds had cleared, he noticed, and dawn was indeed spreading her rays across the black expanse of night.

Naruto felt his 'night vision' fade unexpectedly, and everything returned to its normal colors. He blinked, confused.

"Your eyes aren't red anymore," Sasuke stated. He sheathed his sword with a _'cling' _without bothering to clean it off.

"Yours still are," Naruto retorted back, not letting his faint surprise show. So he could still use the Kyuubi's chakra after all, even without the demon's consent.

Naruto hopped down to a lower branch, searching for his familiar black fabric. Dammit, if he lost that cloak _again_—

He was stopped by Sasuke.

The Uchiha didn't look quite as sane as the last time Naruto had seen him, and he wondered what had happened. Sasuke held his gaze, red against blue _(or was it indigo now?). _"I'm going to kill you," he promised, eyes lighting almost feverishly.

"You're afraid," Naruto answered calmly. He wasn't some kid who could be bowled over by Sasuke anymore. He was stronger. He was himself.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, just a bit, before blinking. And with that one blink, Naruto knew something had changed in his former rival's plans.

"You're out to get the Akatsuki, aren't you?"

"Yes." Naruto wondered where this was leading to. "So are you, or rather, your brother."

"I have a plan," Sasuke proposed suddenly, voice fluid like he'd planned this all along. "I won't kill you right now. Let us join forces and work to kill the Akatsuki together."

Naruto wondered if he had an ulterior motive. This wasn't like the Sasuke he knew at all, the one who'd never acknowledged him. Then again, he wasn't the Naruto everyone knew. No, not one bit.

"A truce, eh?" Naruto murmured, feeling a devilish smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. As the sun rose, bathing them in pink and dying the blood an even darker red, he made his decision without hesitation.

"Why not?"

* * *

><p>Hinata entered the village cautiously. It was small, was the first thing she noticed.<p>

Kiba followed behind her, shooting a glance around. "This sure is the best place to stay," he said, sarcasm prominent. "I can't think of anything better."

"Kiba, lay it off," Kurenai warned, taking the lead. Their black-haired sensei strode in purposefully with her team somewhat straggling behind, hesitant to enter.

It looked fine, all right, but deserted. Empty.

"There's nobody here," Shino stated, hands in pockets and slightly hunched. There was an almost nervous air around him, and his head swung side to side. It in turn made Akamaru nervous, which made Hinata nervous, and finally, just a little bit, Kiba.

"What do you mean, nobody here?" Kiba began, sniffing the air. "It certainly _smells _inhabited—"

"Wait." Kurenai held out a hand, stock still in front of them. "Don't do anything. Stay behind me." Her orders were carried out flawlessly, and Kiba shut up. Even Akamaru stayed still, ears pricked.

At last, she relaxed a little, but still was worked up enough to take out a kunai, clenched in her hand. "Shino, could you sense anything with your bugs?" Their sensei turned her head a little, curling black hair blowing in the sudden wind.

"No." Shino's reply was low.

"Me neither," Kurenai answered, shaking her head. "What's going on here?"

Kiba suddenly stiffened at the same time as Akamaru barked. "There's death in the air," he hissed, "and strong chakra traces. It was recent too." His eyes narrowed in determination. "We have to go and check it out." Kiba hopped off Akamaru, ready to charge into the situation.

Kurenai's hand stopped him. "Wait." She nodded to Hinata. "Check with your Byakugan quick, won't you? I don't trust this place. It's too quiet." Her red eyes lowered a bit, and she whispered, "What happened here?"

Hinata nodded hesitantly. She really didn't want to activate her Byakugan _(something was warning her not to, there would be unhappy consequences otherwise) _and see what dark secrets was hidden behind the deserted shops lining the road, but she had to follow her leader's orders.

"Byakugan!"

It wasn't what it seemed.

Hinata let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding, scanning the area. Nothing. No corpses—thank God—no people, no animals... _What had happened here? _she repeated Kurenai's question softly in her head. She was about to report when a sudden movement caught her eye. "Kurenai—"

Rocks rained down on them from a group of children who'd suddenly appeared in the middle of the road. The ninjas dodged them easily, only to be faced with another barrage once the first finished. This too finished quickly, and the four stared in bewilderment at the children, no older than twelve and no younger than four, that had attacked them.

More shadows moved from the edge of the streets, hurrying toward the children. Women. They all stood in a mob, faces unwelcoming and cold. Hostile, but with a shock, Hinata realized they were also afraid.

"We don't mean harm," Kurenai started to say, the standard greeting for any attack in a time of peace.

One of the older children, one who'd been hidden at the back, stepped forward. He _did _look older than the rest, maybe fourteen—or, Hinata thought sadly, it was because whatever happened here had aged him beyond his years. There was certainly something _else _in the teenager's muddy green eyes.

He held himself with his head high and back straight, giving defiance off from every pore. "Who are you?" he called, his voice not quite low but somewhere in between. Hinata had guessed right; this boy probably had not even hit puberty yet.

"We're shinobi of Konoha," Kurenai said back. She even held her hands up in exaggeration, showing they meant nothing.

The boy still looked mistrustful, even more so when she said 'Konoha'. "You're from that village?" The last two words were spat with an intense hatred. "Are you here to finish us off?"

Kiba looked taken aback. "What do you mean? We've never been here before—we're only passing through this place to reach the Land of Hot Water." The boy didn't look appeased in the slightest, and Akamaru yipped, drawing his attention.

"A dog," the boy—really, only a child—murmured, suddenly looking wistful. "I used to have a dog."

Kiba took the chance. "Was she nice?"

The boy nodded before shaking himself, glaring again. "I shouldn't talk to you! We're going to have to take you custody."

Shino spoke then, almost incredulous. "Take us custody? You're nothing more than children and women."

The group abruptly flinched back, as if it hurt to be reminded of the truth. The boy flinched too, eyes screwing shut in pain. Kurenai prodded gently, "What happened here? We promise we're no threat; just tell us what happened and perhaps we can help."

The boy took a deep breath, opening his eyes again. They were dark and words tumbled out of his mouth like a dam suddenly unblocked.

"M-my name is Tatsuo, and we were just living in peace before this. A week ago, we were fine," he said, suddenly angry, stutter gone. "But then, _they _came. The two of them, just one day apart from each other. I don't know who the hell they were, or why they came here, but they've done nothing but harm to us." His fist tightened.

"Are they here now?" Kurenai asked. "Oh, and my name is Kurenai. This is Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata, and Shino." She introduced them quickly.

Tatsuo nodded briefly, looking distracted. "No, they left. They didn't stay in the Village for more than a half hour each, but they wrecked so much havoc." His face was drawn and harsh. "They were missing-nins. One was the infamous Uzumaki Naruto, and the other was Uchiha Sasuke. And all of our fathers—our mothers' husbands—went after them to try and capture them, bring back some money. And you know what happened? They all _died!_" His voice rose in the end, almost shrieking. Hinata caught sight of a few women wincing, and tears gathered in the eyes of many children and other women.

But that aside, her own heart was jumping into her throat. "Naruto-kun was here…"

"He killed them?" Kiba muttered louder than her. She recoiled, remembering the boy's story. _They all _died! Did that mean—Sasuke did it? Or Naruto?

"How do you know that they died?" Kurenai's voice was suddenly harder, taking on her role of jounin.

"It's been half a week. I think we would know," he said, unspoken anguish in his eyes. Kurenai relented, eyes lowering.

"I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do about the dead," she whispered. Tatsuo drooped his head, like he hadn't wanted to hear the truth. Hinata, Kiba, and Shino remained silent. "May we pass?"

"Do what you want. The only thing shinobis are good for is death." With that, the group disbanded and slunk away quicker than they'd appeared. In seconds, they faced an empty road, deserted of feelings and life and full of loss.

Hinata felt a single tear well up and drip down her cheek.

Naruto really had changed. She followed her team silently down the road. He was no longer the one they had knew, the one—dare she say it—had loved. No, he was really somebody else now, and she finally knew why that day in the BBQ shop she hadn't been able to say 'stop'. It was because even though Naruto was no longer _himself_, they had to defend the only they had left: the image of him. Of who he was, what he'd fought for, what he died for. They had to save the only thing that was left of him.

Naruto was dead, wasn't he?

Hinata felt so tired.

When would they all stop running?

Especially Naruto?

* * *

><p><strong>Yes. I killed my nonofficial OC. MWAHAHAHA! And I'm pretty sure you guys can see where I got lazy and just ended Naruto's scene, and the Village's. It's okay though if you can't :D Perfectly okay.<strong>

**Ooh I thought of something! Next week (well, next week and 4 days) is Naruto's birthday! 10-10! I guarantee that a massive influx of fanfictions will enter this website…**

**Aaand that's pretty much it for this time! See everyone in the next chapter :P btw, I'm always open for ideas, if you guys have any. If I can, I'll try and incorporate them into the fic, but you know, whatever. Reviews are welcome, you can PM me too, yada. Anyway, that was a bunch of random stuff, so… bye!**

**TBC!**


	22. Chapter Twenty One

**A/N: Time passes so quickly but so slowly at the same time (in the real world). Has anyone noticed that? **

**Disclaimer: Psh (my new favorite word) what makes you think that? Naruto would be…different… if it was mine. To say the least.**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Twenty-One<strong>

_If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things. _–Albert Einstein

_To wish you were someone else is to waste the person you are. _–Unknown

Cold moonlight filtered delicately through tree branches, stark and leafless. They made shadows that looked like claws on the ground, and provided no cover for the two shinobi traveling through.

It didn't bother them, however, because they were the feared ones. The predators. And not anyone else.

But just because they were the ones to be afraid of didn't mean teamwork was fantastic right off the bat. In fact, it was completely the other way around. If anybody was watching, it would have been clear how mistrustful the two were of each other... that is, if they knew the two and how they acted.

Naruto didn't trust Sasuke one bit.

It didn't matter if they had been friends—brothers—rivals before. After all, it was _before. _Before Sasuke left them, before Naruto went training for three years. Before Sakura grew strong and before Jiraiya died; before Akatsuki started attacking him and before Pein brought down his wrath upon Konoha.

Nothing that happened _before _mattered now, the _after. _

Rarely anything stays the same. Everything is changing, always and forevermore, from the earth to its people. Naruto was no exception.

After he had exiled himself, essentially, he'd gradually lost the trust of anyone around him. He could interact with him, sure, put on that façade, but Naruto sincerely doubted that he could make himself trust his ex-teammates again.

He doubted he could make them his friends again. He doubted he could _have _friends again.

Naturally, that doubt carried over to Sasuke's case, if not even more. Sasuke had only betrayed him and his village; he'd done nothing for them. The Kyuubi hadn't forgotten it so easily, and made his own mistrust of the Uchiha clear, which influenced Naruto even more.

There was a reason he became a missing-nin and not a bounty hunter, searching out prey and luring them.

If there were many feelings Naruto hated, indecision and loss of control among them, being mistrustful was one of them. The feeling would gnaw at him, press on him like guilt.

Yet, he couldn't shake it off.

He couldn't stop being mistrustful. Naruto had become, in a way, broken. But he didn't know that.

A cold wind ran over his body, bringing him back to the present. The chills it brought multiplied times ten since they were moving so fast _and _Naruto had lost that goddamn cloak again! No matter how much he'd searched, it had remained missing. It irked him.

He shook his head slightly, feeling Sasuke's eyes rest briefly on him before turning away again. Sasuke was an enigma, he'd have to admit. Naruto wasn't quite sure who he was anymore either.

_People change too._

Was Sasuke still sane? The look in his eyes, highlighted by the bloody dawn just twelve hours ago, had suggested no. Although, of course, only time could tell.

They'd leaped through the trees for another good two hours, watching the moon start her way back down the sky. Neither was willing to admit that they were growing tired, and in turn, weakness, so both would stubbornly persist onward in their direction. Traveling in this fashion allowed them to advance far more than a normal shinobi would.

Naruto swung around a tree trunk that unexpectedly appeared in his way, forcing more chakra through his feet to catch up with Sasuke, who'd gotten a tiny fraction ahead. That was another quite large flaw in their teamwork—or rather, lack thereof.

Frankly, they just refused to cooperate.

It might have been a result of the rivalry that plagued their childhood_ (forced into adulthood by their sorrows) _or the fact that they were so different, but neither would let the other get one inch ahead. Both would try, of course, to gain the upper hand and move faster and farther than the other, but they would inevitably fail as the other quickly caught up. Naruto knew that in the end, they were only wasting chakra, but he couldn't stop. It was a matter of pride.

He didn't think about what would happen in a fight if they didn't resolve their cooperation issues. Would they battle alone? Or would they help each other?

Something pointed him in the direction of the former.

The wind whipped Sasuke's face, sending his bangs blowing backwards. His legs had started a numb aching half an hour ago, but he didn't dare stop. It would mean showing weakness, and he couldn't do that to anyone, let alone _Naruto. _

He didn't trust Naruto. He couldn't, not even if his life depended on it.

Because, you see, over the years, Uchiha Sasuke had trained himself not to rely on anyone. Relying meant trusting, and trusting meant befriending. Befriending meant making bonds, which meant being weak.

Solitude would be the only siren's call for Sasuke. Solitude and power.

So if he couldn't trust anyone, that led to the question, why would he even team up with Naruto in the first place?

That was a very good question.

_Ha, I bet she would be happy now, _Sasuke couldn't help thinking angrily. _She always liked to see me suffer; I should've destroyed her! _he told himself, even though Sasuke knew of no way to actually kill Nakami.

Something had just made him offer up that brilliantly stupid plan, the one that Naruto had accepted almost immediately. It had been a fluke, something that had blurted—quite uncharacteristically—out of his mouth, one of the only things Sasuke had never thought through before saying. All that was left would be to see if it had been a dreadful mistake or a handy solution.

While he was stuck in his memories, though… the look in Naruto's eyes! The strange periwinkle, almost indigo shade drifted through his mind again. When they'd been red, red as his own, the look in them had been almost feral. Feral and harsh, unforgiving and bloodthirsty like the demon Naruto housed. _Monster._

Although he couldn't really judge him. Sasuke was a monster too; the difference _had _been, he accepted it. Did Naruto accept that, now?

The hard look in them had softened, but just barely, when the pupils shifted back and his eyes changed color. All of Naruto had grown up, just like Sasuke, over the course of the years. But the thing that had changed the most would have to be his _eyes._

They used to be filled with that annoying happiness, disrupting Sasuke's willing cloud of gloom. That annoying cheerfulness, bugging their team to no end, even when they were constantly getting in trouble because of Naruto.

They were different now.

The look in them had changed entirely, unlike Sasuke's whose eyes had remained much the same. Naruto's eyes were cold, no longer revealing his feelings and thoughts like an open book. He'd come to know what being alone truly meant, but Sasuke couldn't help wondering if Naruto still believed he was protecting that damn village. No matter how alike or how different he and Naruto were, in the end, their path boiled down to their goals. If Naruto still thought he was protecting Konoha through all this, then he and Sasuke truly were on different paths. However…if that wasn't it…

Sasuke planned to find out which one was true.

What he didn't know, and Nakami did, was that since Naruto had renounced his former friends and had chosen the so-called darkness, it only drove him further from everyone else.

Including Sasuke.

In the end, Naruto would only be alone, even if he was surrounded by friends and light or loneliness and nobody. He would always be alone, because he was special; a hero. He would always be alone because he was _unique_, and that was a double-edged sword. It condemned him, yet made him a savior.

The two continued on their winding paths, both figuratively and physically, refusing to let the other beat them, refusing to admit their own body's weakness.

How long would it take for them to break?

Or, rather, who would break first?

* * *

><p>They could see the clouds from a mile away.<p>

They could see the iron sheet of rain from half a mile away.

They could see the people less than a foot away.

Sakura was surprised.

She didn't know why, but she had thought that the people of Amegakure would've—should've—been zombies. Walking corpses, robots, anything that befit living under a tyrant of a leader. She'd thought that Pein must've been harsh on the people of his village, fitting for someone who had killed so many.

Then Yamato had shot a glance at her and murmured, "Remember, they don't know that their leader is the Akatsuki's leader."

And then, Sakura had remembered that Pein had also been a person: Nagato. He had also cared for his friends and cared about his goal, like a certain somebody. But also like that somebody, he'd turned his back on all that and focused only on his goal.

It was amazing what someone dedicated enough to spying could find out.

Sakura shouldered her pack again, determination flashing briefly in her eyes before being replaced by the familiar neutral expression her teammates had come to assume her with. Sakura once again took the lead into the rainy village, approaching with hesitation or fear.

Yamato sighed soundlessly, following the headstrong girl. It would be no use trying to conceal their chakra anyway; thanks to Sakura, they now knew that the rain in the village was laced with chakra or the like. The minute it touched them, Pein knew, which was most likely the beginning of how Jiraiya had died. At the very least though, they could put on a henge to _try _and confuse the Akatsuki, even if it wouldn't succeed.

"Sakura!" he called, the girl just about to step over the threshold into Pein's territory. "Put on a henge first. We can't just walk in like this." He gestured to their forehead protectors, and Sakura looked vaguely annoyed.

For a second, both of her teammates wondered if she'd just forget Yamato's order and charge straight in anyway.

In the month after Naruto's departure—to put it nicely—she'd been okay. Still carrying out missions, working cooperatively. But then, somewhere during that time, it had hit her that she was really, truly alone now. And then she'd become unbelievably cruel to both of them, treating them almost like they were replacements of Sasuke and Kakashi; except, as she'd so eloquently pointed out, there was no Naruto.

After that, she'd gone on a crying spree in the woods, and had returned a couple days later, acting like the outburst had never happened.

Yamato and Sai tactfully avoided the topic too.

Point was, Sakura wasn't as open to them as she'd been before Naruto left; nor was she was hostile as the half year after Naruto was gone. She always obeyed orders for the sake of her team and her loyalty was strong. Sakura hadn't disobeyed a direct command—yet.

Sai wondered how long it would take her to break. What, figuratively, would be the final straw on her back? Or would somebody come along and help her with her burden?

His questions were put on the back burner when Sakura halted and turned irritably. It was obvious the pink-haired girl still wasn't in the best of moods, but there was nothing they could do about it now.

"Fine, let's get it over with," Sakura growled, unusually aggressive. Sai guessed that since they were so close to their number three enemy—Itachi and Madara vying for first or second place—and the number _one _cause Naruto had left Konoha, Sakura wasn't feeling any sympathy. In fact, being so close just probably stirred up more of those desperate feelings best left in the dusty past of two years ago.

Yamato nodded, forming his fingers into the 'henge' seal. "Just a minor one, nothing fancy," he ordered, and when both of his subordinates nodded, he shouted, "_Henge!_"

Small poofs of smoke surrounded the trio before it cleared to reveal three totally different, seemingly ordinary travelers; no resemblance to ninjas at all.

"Happy?" Sakura retorted before whipping around and crossed the border, which was neatly defined by a curtain of rain and dry ground. Her now long brown hair was instantly soaked, but she kept on walking like nothing was wrong.

Yamato shot an exasperated look at Sai, who merely shrugged and took an umbrella out of his pack. Their leader did the same, both knowing that nothing these umbrellas could do would save them from Pein's wrath when he found out.

By crossing this border, they were taking an irreversible step. Possibly one that could very well cost their lives.

But they couldn't turn back now for two reasons. First, Sakura was already marching away, chakra rain streaming down her skin. They couldn't just _leave _her here to fend for herself.

Secondly, they had signed up for this mission.

It wasn't handed to them by Tsunade; she wouldn't dare risk their lives on a recon mission like this, let alone any ninjas' lives. It was much too dangerous, and the fact that it was _Sakura _and Sai and Yamato made it even more. The possibility of death for an ordinary ninja was already over fifty percent. For these three?

It just rose so much more.

So why did they volunteer to do it? Because they had bonds. Because they wanted to do _something. _Because—they felt useless.

All those could have been valid answers, just as all these could be reasons why Tsunade even let them go. Maybe she knew how they felt. Maybe she had bonds too. Maybe she just couldn't deny her pupil any longer.

What's done was done, though, and chickening out now would mean losing a teammate and losing their reputation.

With that, Yamato and Sai too stepped over the boundary line…quite literally, onto the dark side. The place with no return—the only problem was, they planned on returning. And nothing was going to stop them.

_All for the sake of the one person they should forget._

They quickly caught up with Sakura, gently tugging her under her own umbrella. She moved almost like a doll, movements stiff and jerky, but she obeyed.

The three strolled along Amegakure, not knowing how long it would be until they were found. Yamato found himself wishing that he had planned this better: letting clones come in first would have been a smarter strategy, while their team scouted outside.

Oh well, too late for that now. They would just have to improvise when needed, because if they used their chakra now, they would be hunted down faster than dogs on a scent. _How, _Yamato thought almost despairingly, _did you do this, Jiraiya? It seems impossible to me, and you were a sannin! _He couldn't help adding, _And you still died…_

It dawned on him that Sai was in the lead, masquerading as boy with a hair color almost similar to Sakura's henged one. It was just a tad brighter, more blonde, than her muddy brown. His eyes however remained opaque as always as he took Sakura's hand and led her around.

The gesture might have almost seemed sweet—Yamato knew what kind of air they were giving off, considering the looks people shot them. Oh, the boy and girl are on a date, how cute! Why is that father trailing after them like a shadow? Poor couple.

No, it might have been sweet, but at this range, so close, Yamato could see clearly that it was anything but.

Sai's grip was almost bone-cracking, yet Sakura didn't so much as wince. Her skin was white around his pale fingers, just a shade darker than his natural paper white.

Sai was reminding Sakura, in his own way, not to panic. Not to do anything that could give their cover away, reminding her to remain stealthy and to just _trust them. _

But Sakura had lost her trust, her innocence, her naivety—Naruto hadn't been the only one who was naïve—over the past five years. She'd grown up, and while she'd grown up, she had also become unreadable. Even to Sai.

Yamato blinked and suddenly remembered the stares, some inquisitive and some kind and some just not nice at all. Right. This wasn't their home territory; they couldn't just slack off and expect to survive here.

He walked swiftly in front of Sai and Sakura, who stopped upon seeing him. He was relieved that a slight spark of life had caught fire in her now blue eyes. Hopefully it could be kindled into something larger and she would no longer be a puppet anymore.

"Are you two hungry?" Yamato asked cheerily while sending a very direct, order-like message through his eyes. Play along right, or die.

Sakura smiled, and to any outsider, it didn't look fake at all. "As a matter of fact, _Father_"—she stressed the word so that the villagers lingering nearby could hear—"I am. What's good around here?"

Yamato narrowed his eyes a bit. What _was _good around here? They needed somewhere that could give them information but wouldn't betray them at the same time.

He wished for Jiraiya once more. The man really had been perfect for this job, with all the right connections and the power to defeat anyone. Well, almost anyone.

And here they were, marching like ants toward their death… toward the one person Jiraiya hadn't managed to beat.

Yamato was shaken from his lingering doubts when Sai spoke up, eyes fixed somewhere beyond Yamato's shoulder.

"I think I've found the perfect place to eat," he said slowly, a small smile creeping at the corners of his lips. Yamato resisted the urge to spin around, searching for whatever had caught the other's attention. Sai locked his gaze. "I hope you like dango."

As it turned out, Sakura liked dango very much. Or at least her 'character' did.

"Two more platters please," Yamato ordered, albeit sheepishly. Their waitress raised a semi-incredulous eyebrow, and he could understand—perfectly—why. Sakura had already downed three platters, and Yamato and Sai one between them both. Their green tea pot was also half empty, and it was the second pot.

"You do know this is going to be all on your tab?" the waitress clarified, tapping her fingers against her apron impatiently. He could sense her disguised question: _Do you have enough money for all this food?_

Yamato nodded, smiling a little. He felt like he had to offer an explanation. "My daughter here enjoys the dango here very much. It's her favorite."

Sakura picked that moment to nod enthusiastically and pushed the final dango stick into her mouth, chewing on the sweet dessert with conviction. The waitress still looked slightly disbelieving, but she walked toward the chef's counter anyway.

Yamato felt his cover drop for a split second as he refrained from glaring childishly at Sakura. The waitress had been right; at this rate, he was going to run out of money, and all for some dango!

Unfortunately, the shop Sai had picked was rather expensive.

But as the looks the boy was shooting him explained, it was also very informative.

Of course, Yamato had no way of knowing if what Sai was saying was true or not. In the end, he would just have to trust the boy and his own associates. Sooner or later though, Yamato would have to see some action. Every second in this shop brought them closer to the brink of death.

Sakura eagerly accepted the new plates of dango that the waitress brought back. Their server no longer tried to conceal her disgust for the pink-haired—or in this case, brown haired—kunoichi. Her thoughts were plain on her face, laid out for all to see. _How could a _girl _eat so much? Isn't she worried about getting fat?_

Sai ignored everyone around him, including the waitress. He looked absorbed in his book, which was actually a blank notebook. His brush was concealed just out of sight, ready to dip into the ink waiting a few millimeters away.

As soon as the waitress moved to another table, Sai finally went into action, quickly dipping the brush in and scrawling a mouse onto the notebook, which doubled as a scroll.

Yamato watched in relief. Finally Sai was making his move; it was nightfall and they couldn't wait any longer. The pale boy had been watching everything in this shop like a hawk for the past hour, and by now even Yamato had been getting fidgety. He sighed loudly.

Sai shot him a glance, something almost apologetic in his eyes. It was explained a second later when he raised his fingers to his lips in a seal, and whispered, "Ninja art," before the mouse frozen on his notebook became a reality, scurrying under the table and blending effortlessly into the shadows.

Sakura had looked up sharply when she felt the spike of chakra coming from Sai, knowing what he was doing but yet still questioning. Was this really the best course of action? Sai wasn't reckless, she knew, not like herself. He had to have a reason.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a couple heads jerk up, swiveling around to see where the disturbance had come from. Because of that, she knew which ones where shinobi in hiding. Maybe that was why Sai did that?

She looked for affirmation from Sai, who merely smiled and nodded in a 'good job' kind of way. "That was still foolish though," Yamato began from beside him, angrily swirling his tea around in his round cup. He kept his voice low and harsh.

There was nobody seated around them, thankfully, and the annoying waitress had moved temporarily away. Sai still glanced around him in suspicion, catching the eye of one of the fake civilians, who quickly ducked away. Deeming it safe to speak quietly, he whispered, "I had no choice. I know somebody who worked at this shop, and it was likely that they are still working here. She had…escaped from Konoha," he said hesitantly, obviously unsure about giving away too much information.

"It doesn't matter how much we know," Sakura interrupted, looking for all the world like she was having a loving chat with her boyfriend. The look contrasted severely with her words. "In the end, we'll find out anyway. And if you don't tell us _everything _now, we'll just end up not trusting this spy and you. If you want that, by all means, don't tell us anything."

She leaned back in her chair, folding her hands primly across her lap. An empty plate sat in front of her, three sharp sticks stacked neatly beside one another. Only the sticky residue from the dango remained. The other plate was untouched.

"When did you become so straight-to-the-point?" Sai asked, although his voice made it clear he wasn't looking for a fight. He copied her action, leaning back in his chair leisurely. Yamato jerked his head a bit, signaling that the five civilians-shinobi were starting to grow nervous. Soon they would find themselves in a battle if Sai didn't do something.

"I'll tell you everything later," he promised, sensing his own teammates frustration. "We don't have the time right now. My messenger should have gotten to her by now, so she'll be expecting us. But we'll have to take care of those five first; she won't take kindly to people following us." Sai jerked his head toward the ninjas.

"And how do we know she'll welcome us?" Yamato replied tensely.

Sai smirked. "We don't."

With that, he stood up, chair screeching precariously along the floor. Hands in his pockets, Sai left the shop without a backwards glance.

Two of the men left too.

Yamato sighed again, scattering some money on the table. "Come on, daughter," he said, still playing his role. Sakura nodded demurely and walked out into the dimming night, dark with rain. Her hands clenched reflexively around the dango sticks hidden in the sleeve of her rain poncho.

Sai was nowhere to be found, but they knew he would be nearby. Yamato took the lead, taking a left and walking cautiously forward, ready for an ambush.

They both heard the ring of the bell as the dango shop's door opened behind them. "Come again!" shouted a cheery voice, and then all was silent besides the ever present splash of rain. Yamato didn't let his guard down for a second, not even when voices exploded ahead of them, shouting expletives and screaming in pain.

He broke into a run, hearing Sakura follow behind him. Heavy footsteps reminded him of their followers, but he couldn't afford to stop and face them now.

Yamato swung into an alleyway, jumping over a dead ninja with his hands around his throat, black ink staining his neck. He could make out the shape of Sai in the gloom, ducking punches and delivering his own blows. Yamato unhesitatingly joined the fight, letting his wood wrap around the man's body and lift him into the air.

He swung his now wooden arm smash back down to the ground, rendering the unknown ninja unconscious. Yamato extracted his wood back into flesh and blood, feeling the almost painful sensation tingle all over his arm.

Sai darted past him, heading straight for Sakura. Yamato turned to see the girl whip out something from her sleeve and throw it like a dart; no doubt learned from Tsunade's assistant, Shizune. The only woman following them dropped to the ground, gurgling slightly before letting the rain wash the blood from her neck. The dango stick protruded like a spike.

The other two followers—both wearing ponchos, one with black hair and one with a muddy brown—started to look warier. They slunk back toward the entrance of the alleyway, but a quick move from Yamato halted them as the entrance walled over with wood.

The three advanced on the two steadily, who, instead of looking scared, only seemed to be more provoked.

They attacked suddenly, swinging around Sai and Sakura's arms, diligently dodging and trading blows until Yamato's team were the ones blocked against the wooden barrier. These were some smarter ninjas, he conceded. Not to be unexpected for Amegakure, after all, led under the leadership of Pein and formerly of Hanzo.

"Why are you attacking us?" Sai felt the need to ask, switching tactics. Fighting was all and well, but information would always be better.

"Give it up," the black-haired shinobi snorted, hard eyes focusing on them. The one with brown hair remained still. "We know you're ninjas; no use hiding it in those shabby disguises any more."

They both had eyes of a predator, cunning and wily, Yamato realized. They would have to be careful around them. He signaled behind his back not to transform, receiving a 'huh' sound from Sakura, translating into, _Who do you think I am? I wasn't going to transform anyway!_

"We would prefer to stay in these forms for now," Yamato said. "We don't want to fight. Peace would be—"

"I don't believe you. Everything about your body language says you're ready for a fight, and that in itself tells the truth." The ninja waved his hand dismissively. "And we would both rather fight." He grinned. "Although, before we kill you—"

"Overconfident now, are we?" Sakura muttered.

"—we would like to know why you were in disguise. For our village's sake, you know." The black-haired one continued, smiling diplomatically. His eyes—usually the way to the soul, or so some would say—revealed nothing except a coldness that stunned even Yamato.

These two ninjas couldn't be more than jounin, probably chunin even. It was hard to tell by age, but if the other three with them had been any indication, their skill level couldn't be very high. Then again, the best shinobi always pretended to be weak before striking with skill. However, only ANBUs usually had those kind of eyes. Eyes that knew killing, eyes that even accepted it.

But this was Amegakure ninjas, he reminded himself. Hanzo of the Salamander's men, now Pein's. It was really no surprise that they would be killers.

"No." Sakura was saying loud and clear.

"Really? That's a pity," the black-haired one said. "It could have prolonged your death."

"I assume that there's no chance for talking, then?" Yamato asked, wanting to make sure no information would be gleaned. He wasn't disappointed.

The ninja laughed mockingly. "Who do you think we are, to give up information so easily? We aren't Konohagakure. Who knows, maybe _you _are."

Sai stiffened, just barely next to him. "If this is over..."

He didn't bother waiting for Yamato's signal, pulling his sword from his backpack in one smooth move. The sheath was tossed carelessly aside for now, and the iron glimmered in the falling rain like death as it scythed toward the black-haired shinobi, who hadn't moved an inch.

The sword struck thin air, as both ninjas vanished.

Yamato felt something stir into reality behind him, and without hesitation brought his arm back, feeling wood stir beneath his skin and hit the man in the shoulder. The black-haired shinobi flinched but grabbed onto the arm, flipping Yamato over. He went with the spin and punched the other man in the stomach, feeling him bend over. Maybe they weren't so hard to defeat after all.

_Lies._

His subconscious lightly accused him, but he ignored it. Sai vaulted out of nowhere, slamming an elbow onto the man's back and feeling him crumple to the ground, rolling so that Sai's fist met the ground. The two ended up in a small tussle, kicking and punching without a particular style of taijutsu. Yamato's resolve hardened when he heard Sakura's strangled cry as the breath was knocked out of her. End this quickly, without being detected, had been the original plan. However, it seemed that they would only be able to complete the first part of the plan.

Yamato held out his hand, and the wood stretched around the ninja on the ground, bringing him kicking up into the air. "Go get the other ninja. Sakura can take care of this one," Yamato told Sai, who nodded and ran off.

A few seconds later, there was a pained cry and Sakura arrived, panting and disheveled. Her long hair was tangled around her face, and the rain made it look like she was crying; but her eyes showed no fear.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked, tugging on her black glove to tighten it. "Punch his lights out?"

"Go ahead," Yamato said, shrugging. He looked away though as Sakura's fist met with the man's nose, and felt it as the ninja instantly stopped struggling. "Did you kill him?"

"No," Sakura answered, looking almost regretful. "He's just unconscious."

"Good. Now go help Sai." Yamato tugged the ninja out of the wood's grasp, binding him securely. Maybe they could take this person and get information. He certainly seemed to have a big enough mouth.

Standing, he wiped his hands futilely on wet pants and turned to Sakura and Sai, who were holding their own against the brown-haired ninja. Yamato soon discovered that it was a feat all on its own, because before his own incredulous eyes, the ninja flickered and disappeared, only to reappear behind Sakura and deliver what would have been a deadly jab to a pressure point. But Sakura dodged, and the dance resumed again.

Yamato heard footsteps starting to approach through the hum of the rain. "We don't have much time, Sai. Do something." He was tired, himself, and knew that his comrades must be too. They had to wrap this up fast.

The brown-haired ninja seemed to know he would have no escape, and was flickering around even faster than before. It was almost like he was invisible, and for a wild moment, it felt like they would lose.

Then Sai grabbed his scroll, and for the weirdest reason, took the ink stored in the center and gripped it. Just as the ninja appeared in front of him, he splashed it all over the surprised man's face, who vanished quickly after.

The splotch of black stayed.

It was all over then. Sakura punched him; Sai slit his throat. They had all silently agreed that this man was too dangerous to allow to live, but Yamato was glad to see that his predictions had been wrong. These had just been ordinary ninjas after all.

Without a word, he nodded a _'good job' _to them, and hoisted the bound ninja over his shoulder. Sai narrowed his eyes, hearing the approaching footsteps too, and shook his head toward Yamato. "Bring him too," he mouthed, pointing to the one they had just killed.

"A corpse? Are you crazy?" Sakura hissed, mindful of their soon-to-be visitors.

"My friend…is special." Sai chose his words carefully. "I didn't choose this alleyway for no reason. We're almost there," he assured his teammates, "but she'll want something. And these two lives should be enough for yours."

"He's still alive," Yamato argued, gesturing to the one slung over his shoulder. Sai merely flicked a kunai into the man's neck, showing that his Foundation skills were still ripe and ready to be used, even if Danzo was dead.

"Now he's not." Yamato looked angry, but Sai cut him off. "She doesn't trust _anyone_, believe me," he whispered. "But she'll take corpses."

Both Sakura and Yamato looked on the verge of asking what was wrong with his so-called friend, but Sai merely started off down the alley. They looked at each other, tired from their battle, and saw no choice except to follow. The truth would be mangled out later.

They emerged into an empty plaza. Nothing happened for a few seconds, until suddenly a bolt of lightning struck the exact center, sizzling before fading to reveal the bowed figure of a woman. Her hair covered her face, and she was absolutely still.

"Still got your flair for dramatic entrances," Sai chuckled. "It's me."

"So I heard…" The woman's voice was dry and almost brittle. "I have no reason to let you stay." Her head suddenly lifted, revealing piercing amber eyes. "Give me one reason why I should let you stay… and not kill you on the spot!"

* * *

><p>Somewhere outside, rain fell.<p>

Rain was soothing, like a natural hum, making everything and everyone at ease. It was almost like a lullaby, a mother's song that she'd never had. And normally, she would let the rain calm her, listening to the light taps rain's fingers made on the stone roof.

But today, she couldn't relax. She could only remain tense, waiting like prey hiding from a predator. It was a sick feeling, knowing that _he _was coming and she couldn't do anything but wait.

_He _had never visited her before, but she knew everything about him. Uchiha Itachi, supposed traitor to his clan. Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's brother. Uchiha Itachi, the one who had joined the Akatsuki.

Nakami shuddered again, closing her eyes. It did nothing to prevent the image of Itachi, burned onto the back of her eyelids. _'There's a certain relative of my brother's that I have been meaning to investigate for the longest time.' _There were no words for the look in his eyes at that moment and the fear in her heart.

It made her sick to even think about referring to _him_ as, well, _him. _"My Uchiha pride kicking in, or something like that," she chuckled weakly, leaning against the rock wall. But there was no other name appropriate for Itachi.

How, she wondered. How had _he _even found her? It didn't surprise her, no, but … Let's just say that Sasuke was very good at hiding things he didn't want to be found.

At the same time, this was Itachi they were talking about. He had connections, he had power. _He _found find his way around anything as long as _he _put the determination to it.

Nakami felt her eyes pinwheel into the Sharingan shape with a slight spike of chakra, unwillingly provoked by her fear. Fear, another thing Uchiha's should not possess.

"But I guess I'm not even a real Uchiha, am I?" Her voice, quiet as it was, seemed louder than a thousand screams. She was once again reminded how empty the cave was; how alone _she _was.

Her red eyes brought to her the scene she could hear: Itachi had reached the opening to her cave…her home, the only home she'd ever known. There was no longer any such thing as a door. Sasuke had taken care of that.

She heard and saw him stride in, confident and almost overbearing in his likeness to his brother. Her knees gave out, and all Nakami could do to prepare herself was slide to the floor. Itachi's steps stopped just shy of the boulder, patient and silent.

Nakami knew what he was waiting for. She also knew he would wait there forever if need be. If Uchiha's could have pride, they definitely would have patience too. At least, most did.

They stayed in the same position for another ten minutes, her eyes nearly closing and she almost fell into the trance like state she called sleep. But she couldn't escape into the floating dreamland, because _he _was still there, waiting.

One word floated through her mind, and that word brought her stirring into action. Why? Why was he here?

The only way to get answers was the act, wasn't it?

And so she did.

In a jolting, almost stumbling move, she lurched to her feet. Nakami's hand fell against the wall, bracing her momentarily as she caught her balance. Before she knew it, her fingers were forming a familiar seal and brushing against the boulder that only she and her 'twin' could open.

It rumbled aside, revealing the one that she knew was there.

Uchiha Itachi.

Her voice was cold and unforgiving, yet she knew what she was about to say was only a façade.

"What do you want, murderer?"

* * *

><p><strong>What to say…? Oh, the second quote this time, I feel like saying 'Naruto! Listen to that and quit aspiring to be like Sasuke…' but at the same time, I can't DX If you know what I'm talking about. <strong>

**It's funny (at least I think so). Sasuke and Naruto are both so untrusting of each other, yet it was essentially all their idea to team up XP they're so stupid. And Naruto thinks Sasuke's going insane, and Sasuke thinks Naruto's going to become a rabid monster. Or something like that. Jeez, I've made them into some messed up characters. Let's not even **_**mention **_**Sakura.**

**Heh. See you all next time! :) (Review review! Updates…blah…it's connecting)**

**TBC!**


	23. Interlude

**A/N: SURPRISE!**

**Are you excited? I am! You know why? Today's NARUTO'S BIRTHDAY! (exclamation mark x10 million) so, you know, I decided to celebrate it by coming out with something super early…well, not really, but whatever. So, anyway, this is an 'interlude', obviously—aka, NOT part of the story. Just something I wrote for his b-day ^-^ Thursday's update will still come. **

**The formatting for this interlude is kinda funky: it's like memory, then flashback, (which are all kinda the same thing) and reality. You'll see. Also, anything I've said in here about the months, times, and the festival (I really have no clue if they actually have one or not) are completely fictional, except for the b-days. March 28 Sakura, July 23 Sasuke, and obviously, October 10 Naruto!**

**Disclaimer: Today's Naruto's birthday! Whee! Do you think giving a gift is enough to entice Naruto over to my side?**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Interlude<strong>

_A true friend reaches for your hand and touches your heart. I'm reaching out, wishing you the best on your special day. _–Anonymous

_The horizon is fading away/You can't even depict tomorrow in a sky so blue/I'm unable to even breathe amongst the crowds of frozen people/How long has it been since I dived into this place? …Carrying a heavy anchor on my back, I utter a tiny prayer/And just as thought it were a sign, the rain began to fall. _–Lyrics from Diver, English-ified, 8th Naruto Shippuden Opening

* * *

><p><em><span>One year ago, spring<span>_

* * *

><p>"Today is…"<p>

_**Nothing special.**_

"You're right, there's nothing special about today," Naruto laughed. He touched the edge of the book in his cloak, wondering who would be next on the page. The last missing-nin he'd killed was relatively easy, and Naruto personally was hoping for one who specialized in earth. Those were intriguing to go up against.

Or, if he was lucky, a fire. Those were the rarest, because Naruto usually resided near the Fire country, and out of the Fire country…well, usually, only the Uchihas excelled at it. Though there had been some half-decent ones in the bingo book.

A twig cracked to his right, and Naruto's eyes were immediately trained on the spot. His every muscle was tense, ready to spring. The bush rustled again, and his hand went to his kunai pouch. Three. Two. One—

It was a bunny.

The innocent looking rabbit hopped out, oblivious to the human predator not ten feet away. Naruto held his breath, scanning the rabbit for explosive tags or the like. It wasn't uncommon for shinobi to rig wild animals. After all, they were expendable.

But this particular rabbit seemed harmless, so Naruto let it go. He didn't want rabbit for dinner tonight, anyway. He'd tried the meat once and it had tasted terrible: stringy, not very nutritious, and hard to chew. Cup ramen was safe and yummy.

He sighed, pocketing the kunai he'd taken out somewhere during the time he'd sighted the rabbit. Looks like it was time to head back to his 'house' for today; the sun was setting and the clouds were streaked with pinks and oranges.

The pink in the sky matched the pink of the flowers in the trees around him, blooming delicately despite the recent harsh weather. More flowers inched up from the frostbitten ground, and new, fresh grass was beginning to peek out. Spring was well on its way here.

No, the Kyuubi had been wrong before, but Naruto wasn't inclined to tell the demon that. Today was something special—or rather, it had been.

Today was Sakura's birthday.

During his time as a Team 7 member, they had never celebrated her birthday. For one, they'd begun training in May, and by the time Naruto left with Jiraiya, it was almost winter. And then, when Naruto returned after three years, they'd simply been too busy finding Sasuke and fighting the Akatsuki.

Now, Naruto left, and there was no chance of him celebrating her birthday.

A pang of loneliness struck his heart as he reached his wooden hideout. There was no chance of anyone celebrating _his _birthday either, except his ex-teammates. _See? I remembered this time—not friends, _he told the fox angrily. There was no answer. Naruto sighed.

"Happy birthday, Sakura, wherever you are," he whispered, closing his eyes and enjoying the last of the dying sun's warmth on his face. "I hope you're happy today."

He leaped into the house, but instead of preparing something to eat, he sank down onto his bed. Naruto's eyes remained shut as he thought of birthdays and the happiness they brought… although he had only ever celebrated one, it was one that he would never forget.

Because he'd had his friends with him.

* * *

><p><em><span>A couple weeks before Naruto's departure with Jiraiya, fall<span>_

* * *

><p>Naruto opened his eyes.<p>

Sunshine beamed through his window, dappling his bed covers. He yawned, scratching his head before feeling a grin spread across his face.

Today was his birthday!

He leaped out of bed and threw on his clothes before sprinting to his fridge. The ramen was passed over—for once, but only because he knew he would have plenty of opportunities to mooch off Iruka today—for a glass of milk, one he hurriedly gulped before swinging out the door.

It was a bright day, birds chirping and clouds dotting the sky. Perfect for his … what was it, thirteenth birthday?

Naruto grinned again. He couldn't wait to see everyone; this would be the first year he actually had friends to share his joy with! He skidded down the stairs and rushed out onto the street, flinging his arms wide. His jacket soaked up the sunshine, surprisingly warm for such a day in October. Generally in Konoha, around now it would be getting chillier, but Naruto was glad that today it was not.

Because today was his very own special day!

If only someone else was here to share it…

The dark thought passed through his head quickly, weighing down his heart with his promise before vanishing. No. He couldn't think about Sasuke today.

Naruto set off down the road. It was early still, and the morning birds called to one another. His head craned back to take in the sky, cloudless and blue. The wind brushed against his face, and his eyes closed happily.

Other noises began filtering in through his self-induced bliss, and he cracked open an eye to take in his surroundings. By now, he'd wandered down to the main part of town. They were busy setting up decorations, Naruto noticed, red lanterns and white banners with 'thank the Fourth' and the like written on them. Shopkeepers were beginning to open their stores, and some even waved at Naruto while sweeping the leaves off their stoops.

Others, however, turned deliberately away. Some didn't even bother to acknowledge him at all. Those, Naruto remembered, must have been the ones with loved ones lost in the battle.

He didn't let the mean shopkeepers mar his mood, though. It was his _birthday, _after all! No matter how much he stressed the fact, it still didn't seem to sink in, floating like oil on water. It also made him feel obnoxiously happy, warmth bubbling up inside of him. Who would he see first? Who would greet him first?

The answer was—and it was so predictable Naruto could have laughed—Ino and Sakura.

Ino was understandable; after all, her family's flower shop was located along this road, so naturally he would run into her sooner or later. Sakura was most likely hanging out with her friend, but Naruto didn't care why she was there... just as long as she was.

"Naaaarutooo!"

The high voice shrieked through the air, startling Naruto and multiple others. It was soon followed by another mind-screeching squeal of his name, and then two pairs of arms were slung around his shoulders in a supposedly 'friendly' manner. In reality, it felt like Sakura and Ino were trying to choke him to death.

"Are you trying to impress me with your chakra control or trying to suffocate me?" he gasped out, feeling his face turn red.

Sakura chuckled ruefully from his left side, quickly withdrawing her arm. "Sorry, Naruto," she apologized. "I haven't really gotten the hang of that yet. Ino and I were practicing when we saw you."

"In our excitement," Ino continued, skipping around to face Naruto, "I guess we just forgot that we were still using cha-kr-a!" she sang, hands clasped behind her back, beaming. Sakura mirrored her bright smile, eyes dancing and hand outstretched.

She looked nothing, Naruto couldn't help comparing, like the girl that had begged him to make a promise. Just one.

He smiled instinctively too, that bubbling feeling rising again and banishing the darker thoughts. No matter what he did, they always remained lurking in the corners of his mind, but today, hopefully _(praying) _it would be easier to avoid them.

Naruto followed Sakura and Ino into the shop, all different kinds of scents assaulting his nose at once. Fragrant, sweet, aromatic; Naruto sniffed deeply, enjoying the smell.

He was in the middle of going over to some strangely orange roses when something was shoved into his face. Naruto's first reflex was to grab it and throw it away, but on closer inspection, he could feel the soft petals resting against his face and the smells tickling his nose. "Flowers for me?" Naruto couldn't help wondering.

"Of course, dummy, who else would they be for?" Ino asked. "Well, take them!" Naruto numbly took the flowers that were tied with a purple silk ribbon, contrasting nicely with the green stems. They were a mix of flowers, he realized; mostly consisting of fragile drooping lavender heads and strong pretty pink ones. Of course, he was no flower expert, so he couldn't judge.

Ino was still talking, despite the fact that she'd turned around and was tying an apron over her outfit. "Think of it as a present or something, Naruto, okay? I didn't have time to get you something else, so this'll be my present, free of charges." She craned her head to give a quick wink before flitting off to the cash register, calling one last thing.

"Oh, and by the way, happy birthday!"

The feeling that had been bubbling inside Naruto popped, spreading the warmth all throughout his body. It finally sunk in, truly and deeply: it was actually his _birthday! _And he finally had precious people to celebrate it with.

His grin hurt his cheeks.

Sakura came up lightly in front of him. "Say bye to Ino, Naruto! We're leaving." Naruto called goodbye to the blonde, who waved back cheerfully before turning to her post as cashier again.

"Where are we going?" he puffed, keeping up with Sakura's steady pace. She continued to jog through the village without stopping, answering him easily.

"Say hi to everyone, of course!" Sakura made it sound like it was obvious. Naruto secretly was thrilled at the idea. Hey, it was his birthday; he could be a ninja another day. Today, he didn't have to lock away his emotions.

"But will they be up this early?" he asked, putting on a spurt of speed to catch up to his teammate.

Sakura laughed, slowing down a little. "I guess we'll have to find out!"

Lee was among the first to find the two. The green-clad boy was running furiously along the side of the road—on his hands. Sweat poured down his face but didn't ruin his enthusiastic expression, which only brightened even more when he caught sight of Sakura and Naruto. He flipped off his hands neatly and held out a big thumbs up, smiling furiously.

"My flower and Naruto-kun!" he exclaimed, teeth sparkling brilliantly. Sakura grimaced from behind Naruto, having strategically placed him first.

"Please don't call me that, Lee," she muttered, still hiding. Usually, Lee would have pursued the subject, but Naruto was immensely surprised when today he abruptly turned to Naruto, 'his flower' forgotten for once. To Naruto's alarm, tears began pouring out of Lee's eyes.

There were the days when Lee could be serious and loyal. There were the days when he'd have too much determination. And then there were the days like this, when Lee was just weird and was much too overenthusiastic for even Naruto's tastes.

"Ah, we have to be grateful today!" he declared. "For it is Naruto-kun's birthday! Everyone must celebrate!" Lee jumped to his feet. "We must go find everybody else and make them join in our celebration too!" He ran off without a second thought, leaving Naruto and a slightly green-faced Sakura to hurry behind.

They encountered Shikamaru afterwards, the lazy boy sitting staring up at the sky. When asked why he was here so early, he muttered something along the lines of 'was made to get up' and trudged drearily along behind the three, after wishing Naruto a 'happy birthday'. Then they saw Hinata and Neji training in the Hyuuga compounds, and they too joined the four as soon as Neji convinced Hinata's father to let them go. Neji nodded to Naruto in greeting and Hinata stuttered a faint 'I hope you're having fun today, Naruto-kun.'

The now large group continued making their boisterous way along the streets, louder and more obnoxious than before after picking up Kiba and Akamaru along the way. The dog yipped excitedly when he caught on a scent, leaving Kiba zigzagging halfway across the town trying to get him back. When Kiba finally returned, he had Shino trailing behind him, who said to a somewhat creeped out Naruto 'Don't smash any bugs today or else.' He was slightly mollified when Shino gave him a butterfly frozen in amber, beautiful and orange.

It was like Shino's gift started a frenzy. Ino yelled 'I gave him one first!' and then everyone was pushing toward him. 'Naruto—' 'I got you one too, I just don't know where I put—' 'Lazy Shikamaru! Did you get him one?' And so on.

The sun had risen halfway up the sky when Tenten found them, arguing and moving along the streets in search of a good place for lunch. Chouji had appeared the moment they uttered the word 'lunch', and then all the gang was present.

Naruto had never felt happier.

His stomach hurt from laughing so much, and he couldn't keep the grin off his face. He knew his cheeks would be sore by the next day, but Naruto didn't care. His hands overfilled with presents from Shino's butterfly to Ino's flowers.

Chouji had given him ten coupons for Ichiraku's; Neji had offered training tips and Hinata had blushingly held up a jar of ointment. Sakura had nudged her and Hinata had turned a bright red.

Tenten predictably gave him weapons, but they were new and sharp, kunais he had never seen before. Shikamaru grudgingly gave him a book on analytical strategies; Kiba gave him a list of pranks they needed to pull off in the future and Akamaru had trotted up with a bone in his mouth, which Naruto tactically refused. Lee had given him a folded up green garment, and without even shaking it out Naruto knew what it was.

To say he was ecstatic would be a massive understatement. Admittedly, Sakura hadn't given him a present—_yet_—instead, she had merely cocked her head and whispered 'wait and see'.

"Wait!" Kiba shouted, holding up an arm in the air. Everyone quieted momentarily, even Akamaru, perched on his head. "We should all listen to Naruto. It's his birthday, he should decide where to eat."

Every time Naruto heard the word 'birthday', he zoned out a bit, reveling in the pleasure of that word. Okay, maybe that was a little overkill, but could he help the fact that before today, he'd never had friends to share his birthday with?

With a start, he realized everyone was staring at him expectantly. "Uh," Naruto began, making an executive decision. "Let's go to Ichiraku's!" Everyone laughed, although Naruto wasn't quite sure why.

"Of course you'd pick that," Sakura teased. Naruto gave a self-conscious smile, and the group started toward the stand.

Although, that was the problem. Ichiraku's was just that: a stand with only four seats. How would they all eat? And then a bigger issue: who would pay for the no doubt endless bowls of ramen Naruto and Chouji would consume?

The second was answered in a miracle's form. Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, happened to be passing by Naruto's giant group of friends when she overheard 'Naruto's birthday' and 'you pay!'

"I was just looking for you!" Suddenly, Naruto found himself being crushed by Tsunade. "I knew it was your birthday." She beamed, and he was thankfully released from her grasp. "Since I haven't gotten you a present yet, I heard you guys needed some money. How about it?" She waved a wallet.

"Really, baa-chan_?_!" Naruto gasped. "Thank you!"

"Ha, anything," Tsunade scoffed, rumpling his hair and starting to stroll casually away before turning back for a split second. "Oh, and by the way, if anyone comes looking, tell them I didn't give you that wallet." And then she was gone.

Naruto and his friends stared, puzzled, after their leader for one brief moment before running toward the ramen stall, pushing and pulling each other out of the way. Well, only the more enthusiastic people did. Neji, Lee, Shino, and some others stayed lingering behind.

In the end, Naruto, Sakura, Kiba, and Chouji—if only because Ayame refused to go back and forth for him—got the four seats, and everyone else was forced to sit outside. Civilians were probably very confused as to why it was so hard to get to Ichiraku's that particular day.

The meal was pleasant and well-paid for by the surprising amount of cash stuffed in that little black wallet. Sakura had looked suspicious briefly—"I thought sensei had gambling problems…where'd she get all this money?"—and the only disturbance they had was a brief run-in with Shizune, who looked frantic and out of breath, yelling something about cash and Tsunade. Sakura and Ino had looked like their worst fears were confirmed.

After lunch, the group had split up.

Some had duties to perform, like Shikamaru and Ino, and others were forced to attend the festival later on in the evening, like Hinata and Neji. Some had gone to train while others had chores.

Sakura stayed with Naruto.

He was grateful. But as she led him around the village, looking for someone or something, Naruto still couldn't help wishing for one thing. Hoping for one thing. Wondering why he couldn't have been stronger, stopped him from leaving… Able to share just a little happiness.

Sakura's hand tightened on his wrist, and he looked up to see Iruka waving at them. Sakura called a cheery 'hello!', running ahead of Naruto. And he was reminded why he didn't care as much today of all days that Sasuke had left—because everyone he had was _here_, right now. Not buried in the past or longing for the future.

In turn, Naruto felt solidly rooted to the present by his bonds.

Iruka laughed and teased Naruto before offering him free ramen for dinner, which Naruto was sorry to decline, explaining that he'd already eaten. The man nodded and looked regretful, not sure what else he could offer. Naruto took care of the problem.

"Just buy me ramen another day!" When Iruka still didn't look convinced, Naruto added, "Being with you makes me happy. I don't need anything more than my friends."

Iruka had practically glowed at that, and soon Sakura and Naruto were bidding their farewells once more. They traveled through Konoha a little more, venturing through the main site for the festival once and lapping Lee twice.

Some of the senseis also came to greet Naruto. Asuma, Shikamaru's teacher, nodded gruffly to him, flicking a cigarette in greeting. Kurenai—Hinata's pretty sensei—had murmured a sweet 'I heard it's your birthday' before trailing after Asuma. Sakura pushed him slightly and whispered gleefully, "I heard they're together!"

Girls. They were just so strange.

Naruto even encountered Gai and managed to escape alive, which was a miracle all in itself. Apparently, somewhere along the way Lee had told his sensei about today, and Gai was all for it—blabbering youth and training and being strong.

Gai-sensei had his 'good and bad' days too.

The sun was setting when they finally came upon Kakashi-sensei. Sakura and Naruto were tired out, walking by each other steadily as they pushed against the current of people streaming in the direction that they had just left. Most of the women sported kimonos and didn't pay a second glance toward Naruto, for which he was grateful. Just today, don't let them look at him _that way. _

Their shadows spread long before them, as the people began thinning out. Soon, there was nobody left; just the warmth of the setting sun on their backs. Kakashi dropped out of nowhere, surprising the two.

"KAKASHI-SENSEIIII!" they screeched—even Naruto, something he would deny later.

"Maa, didn't mean to scare you that much. I thought you heard me coming." The man laughed, scratching his head sheepishly. "Happy birthday, Naruto." The words were warm, and Kakashi held out a wrapped rectangular object.

"What's this?" Naruto asked suspiciously as he took it, examining it this way and that. It felt almost like a book… He jabbed a finger toward his sensei, who looked deceptively casual. "You didn't get me one of your dirty perverted novels, did you_?_!"

Kakashi didn't reply, choosing instead to whistle. Sakura started laughing, trying to suppress the giggles but failing. Naruto glared at both of them before ripping the wrapping paper off impatiently.

To his relief, it wasn't Kakashi's perverted book. What was there puzzled him though. "What's this?" he repeated.

"I thought that you would get lonely on your journey with Jiraiya," their teacher explained, sticking his hands into his pockets.

Naruto looked confused. "But I'm with ero-sannin, so I won't be alone."

"I thought you would miss us," Kakashi said gently, prodding his student in the right direction. Naruto's eyes lit up as he understood the new revelation. He looked back down at the small album with a fervor, gripping the cover tightly, aching to open it. "Go on," Kakashi urged.

Sakura moved to peek over Naruto's shoulder as he eagerly flipped the cover open.

It was an album.

His own face greeted him, sunny and bright with an obnoxious smile. Naruto didn't know when this had been taken, but he was looking off somewhere into the distance.

It wasn't a particularly large album, made for traveling and easy carrying. There was just enough pages for every one of them: Sakura, looking pretty under a cascade of pink petals; Ino carrying a flower arrangement; Shikamaru watching clouds; Chouji at a convenience store; Neji just looking solemn; Hinata blushing; Tenten honing a kunai; Lee doing a pushup; Kiba saluting from atop Akamaru; Shino in the middle of a sunny meadow. There was even one of Kakashi, looking bored as he read his Icha Icha book. The old hag was in one with Jiraiya, and Konohamaru with his two friends.

Basically, Naruto realized, everyone he'd ever considered precious was in here. All in one little tiny book, memorialized forever. He turned the picture of Konohamaru to see Sasuke's apathetic face blinking back at him. Except, it wasn't. He was actually _smiling_ in this one, and Naruto wondered what the bastard had been bribed with. Something big.

"There's one more picture," Sakura whispered.

Naruto slowly flipped Sasuke's picture, and was greeted with the sight of Team 7. That famous picture, the one that still sat in his own room somewhere. A strange constricting feeling caught his throat, and he knew without a doubt that _this _was the best birthday present ever.

He looked up, wanting to thank Kakashi-sensei, but his teacher had disappeared. Naruto blinked, and hugged the book to his chest. "Thank you," he whispered.

Sakura grabbed his sleeve then, smiling widely. "Come on! I've got your present."

They ran through the streets of Konoha, now deserted. Naruto's hand never strayed from is precious book, not even when he nearly fell as Sakura tugged too hard. They ran past the houses, past the shops, almost past the walls of Konoha…

The two were nearing the front gate when Sakura suddenly veered to the left, dragging Naruto along with her. He wondered where they could be going; nothing lay this way, as far as knew. Nothing but a small open area of grass.

And that, it turned out, was exactly where Sakura was going.

When they crested the hill, nothing could have prepared Naruto for what he saw.

Everyone—and he meant _everyone_—was there, assembled… waiting. Waiting for _him. _Uzumaki Naruto…

Who finally had friends.

Sakura's voice was light and happy.

"Happy birthday, Naruto."

* * *

><p>His body was worn and tired. It was almost two years since he left Konoha; not that he'd been counting. Naruto flopped down on the bed, exhausted after a recent battle and a near miss with the Konoha guards.<p>

His gaze wandered over the stark wooden boards of his 'home', temporary as it was. Almost two years, was it?

That reminded him. His birthday was approaching soon. Should he go back into his home village and dredge up those painful memories again? Should he go back and see how much his fri—ex-teammates had suffered? Just to see them, once more, like an outcast trying to join what he had been shunned from?

Naruto didn't know. He just didn't know.

His hand closed emptily on top of his chest, eyes closed. Birthdays, what good were they even for? He hadn't ever really celebrated a nice one—besides that one. The birthday where he'd had friends, where Sakura had even organized a surprise party for him.

_**Why are you going and recalling those memories that only cause you pain?**_

For once, Naruto didn't bother answering the Kyuubi's disdainful sneer. Instead, he could only feel the smooth glass-like feel of amber and smell those beautiful flowers; see his friends gathered before him and hear them saying happy birthday; and most of all, see each picture from the album Kakashi had given him crystal clear.

They were forever imprinted onto his heart, unable to forget but wanting to burn, searing him with feelings best left untouched.

Naruto clenched his hands, hoping that Tsunade still remembered her promise and was keeping his precious book safe. He had entrusted it to her before his departure with Jiraiya, and had told her that one day he would return to get it.

Now, he doubted that would ever come true.

Still, maybe…

But of someone who was destined to live in the shadows without friends or family, all alone and bondless, do they deserve something like that book? Something so dear and filled with love?

No, Naruto didn't deserve it.

And yet he couldn't help wishing he did.

_Happy birthday, Naruto._

* * *

><p><strong>How was it? Exciting, boring? Emo-tastical? XD Reviews are fantastical! And… with that, my hyper-ness has been used up. So, so you on Thursday! (and don't forget to wish a happy birthday to our dear little Naruto-kun!)<strong>

**TBC!**

**P.S. Sorry it wasn't the usual length, but it's an interlude. It can be short. Psh, I don't even know where this idea hit me from; it's not exactly canon to my storyline… XD And I realized I forgot to add Konohamaru in. Oh well.**


	24. Chapter Twenty Two

**A/N: Hi! :) I hope that everyone's week has been going well? You know what's hilarious? Well, this is. Some guy called just PMed me, and he's like "you want this challenge? All others have failed…or refused…blah" and stuff. "Will you accept?" Me: "uh…what kind of challenge..?" O.o Yeah, it was so weird. I felt like sharing that strange part of my day. (And then he said something about Naruto crossovers. It's still pretty hilarious. If you're reading this, , I am not mocking you. Not really... just kidding :P)**

**Disclaimer: Tired. Annoyed. K. Masashi's. M. Kishimoto's. Same thing.**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Twenty-Two<strong>

_I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not. _–Kurt Cobain

_He who angers you conquers you. _–Elizabeth Kenny

Perhaps one of the foremost rules a shinobi learns along with 'never show emotions' is this: don't judge a ninja by their looks.

That alone is what probably kills most amateur ninjas, and that is also why gennin teams have a jounin leader. Most gennin are just too foolish to understand that _looking _weak doesn't mean being weak.

However, there are other ways to gauge a shinobi's power. Their eyes are one, because it is near impossible to mask the coldness or tenderness in them. The aura they give off is another; basically, how much killing intent is filling the air?

ANBU have long since mastered the skill of radiating such intent, if only to attempt and scare off their opponents before engaging in battle. Of course, most of their opponents are at the same level as them, so it doesn't have much effect.

Sakura, still a chunin, might not have such ability, but she was smart. Smart enough to realize that for once, she would have to forgo the _don't judge a ninja by their looks _rule… because this friend of Sai's looked dangerous and felt dangerous. She was also smart enough to realize that every muscle in her body was screaming at her to run and run far away, and her mind wasn't far from agreeing.

The only reason she stayed was because she trusted Sai not to let them die and because of her loyalty. Loyalty, which shinobi also learned, would often be more powerful than love.

Silence reigned briefly in the plaza. The woman still glared at them from the center, eyes cold and piercing. Her hair hung in limp strands around her, weighed down by the rain. She made no effort to brush it out of her face.

The physical distance between them could not have been more than thirty feet, easy for any one of them to leap and attack from. But to Sakura, the woman felt more than an ocean away, if only because her emotions seemed so walled up. So…distant.

Her attention was reverted back to Sai when the pale boy took a step forward, shedding his henge disguise without a second thought. The woman didn't relax a single muscle however at the sight of her 'friend', or so Sai put it. He held up his hands in a harmless manner, and shot a glance toward Sakura and Yamato. They got the message and quickly dispelled their own henges too.

The woman just glared at them all the more, distrusting and suspicious. "Why shouldn't I kill you?" she commanded again, voice hard and unrelenting.

"Because we need your help," Sai answered smoothly, pasting a fake smile onto his face. He looked eerily similar to the Sai Sakura and Naruto had first met, she couldn't help noticing, albeit painfully.

"And when have I ever given help freely?"

"Never," Sai replied. He dumped his corpse on the ground, indicating to Yamato that he should do the same. "But we've brought gifts." The woman's eyes moved slowly to the two bodies lying side-by-side on the ground, and for the first time, narrowed in thought.

Sakura, meanwhile, couldn't help wondering why this woman was attracted by corpses. Yes, she would _have _to get the full story from Sai, and how he knew such a seemingly strange woman. A girl couldn't squash her…eh, girly side, for too long now, could she?

"Interesting, Amegakure chunins, almost jounin-level. They seem to be powerful, at least this one," she said, walking closer in an absent-minded fashion. The woman gestured toward the brown-haired ninja. Her eyes snapped back toward them and once more, they were pointed and sharp. "Did anybody follow you?"

Sai shook his head. The woman seemed satisfied, for now. "Let's get out of this rain then. It's only causing us to be in more danger. After that…Sai, you'll have to tell me why you're here after so many years, and what you're doing so far away from Danzo." Her face twisted in a sneer, her dislike of the man clear. "And _then_ I'll decide if you're worth killing or not."

"Friendly, isn't she?" Sakura muttered, but the woman didn't seem to hear her. Or if she did, she ignored it.

Sai's friend twisted on her heel and turned, pressing a finger to her lips before brushing it on the ground. Nothing happened for a few seconds, until a resounding crack echoed through the plaza and the ground itself moved aside to reveal a tiny square that looked barely big enough for a cat to fit through. The woman slid easily to the ground and, like the aforementioned cat, started twisting herself through. She dropped out of sight.

The three stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before Sai hurried forward and ungracefully managed to squeeze himself through. Sakura had a bit less trouble, if only because she was skinnier and Sai caught her in a gentlemanly way. Yamato had to suck in and even then, he could barely get through. Nobody caught him. Sakura had a new appreciation for how good of a shinobi this woman was.

Said woman was waiting for them at the end of the unlit dank corridor, reeking of mold and sewer-smells. The walls were slimy and like every little kid's nightmare house. Luckily, there was no sounds that suggested creatures lurking in the shadows.

It was chilly down here, even without a draft. Sakura would've shivered if she still didn't have her rain poncho on; surprisingly, the woman didn't even seem bothered in the slightest, though she was wearing a thin strap top and sensible calf-length black pants. _She must be used to living like this. _

And then, Sakura realized they still didn't know the woman's name.

"Hey," she said, stopping the other in her tracks. Her hand was inches from an iron doorknob imbedded into the wall. "What's your name?"

"What's _your _name?" the woman countered, amber eyes challenging.

Sakura wasn't fazed. "Haruno Sakura, Konoha medic. This is Yamato, or so he goes by. And you know Sai." Her gaze locked with the woman's, who looked strangely amused. "And you?"

"Ah, a feisty one here, Sai," the woman said, not answering Sakura's question. When she cleared her throat impatiently, the woman sighed, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly. "Fine. You can call me Chiyoko."

A stifled sound from Sai made Sakura glare at him fiercely. What was so funny about that name? Sure, it was sorta weird, but … she was sure there was something Sai knew and he wasn't telling.

"Now then," the woman—Chiyoko—mockingly said, bowing from her waist. The door was abruptly open, sending another spine-tingling draft blowing over their skin. "After you, my friends."

* * *

><p>As it turned out, both of them collapsed at around the same time. It was more of their body giving out than any weakness from their pride and willpower, but that didn't stop them from pointedly ignoring the other anyway.<p>

Naruto had been in the midst of grabbing for a higher branch when his fingers embarrassingly slipped and he found himself crashing onto the pinecone-strewn ground. He had bitten his tongue and hoped fervently that Sasuke hadn't seen.

Sasuke hadn't, but if they were being technical, Sasuke was the one who lasted just a second longer. He'd seen Naruto disappear from the corner of his vision just before he skidded off a branch, chakra petering out, and yet still managing to land in a crouch on the ground.

A 'before' Naruto might have frowned and childishly insulted Sasuke, but this one merely got up and walked straight past the other without a word. Maybe it was a different version of the same treatment, but neither particularly cared nor bothered to change it.

Camp—or this rugged version of it—was set up in dead silence. Naruto was obviously experienced in things like this, having been forced to set up camps similar to it in the first few weeks of his self-exile. Sasuke also _seemed, _at least, adequate at it, if only because there was nothing an Uchiha could not do. He snorted in his head and added another stick to the bundle in his hands. Hey, fires were important. So were sticks.

For the first time in a while, his unasked for companion spoke. Oh wait, the _other _unasked for companion, of course.

_**What are you going to do after this, Naruto?**_

He blinked, mildly surprised. The Kyuubi hardly ever deigned to call him by his first name, and so when he did, it meant he was serious…for once. Unfortunately for the fox, Naruto wasn't in a very good mood right now, and that made him irritable and sarcastic.

_Thank you for caring now and not oh, say a day before. _

The demon made a noise that indicated clearly he was displeased with Naruto's rebellion. _**Would you have liked me to say no to this idiotic plan? With your unsworn enemy, no less? He's still more dangerous than you. He can kill you without a thought. He's an **_**Uchiha. **

Naruto hardly waited for the Kyuubi's long-winded speech to die down before retorting, _He might be my enemy, but in a sense so are you. We're just having a temporary truce right now. _He wasn't sure which truce he was referring to, and the fox must have known it. _And just because you hate Uchihas because you were _weak _enough to get caught by Madara isn't my fault._

_**Weak?.! You think **_**I'm **_**weak? Take a look in the river, boy, and we'll see who's really the weak one around here, **_the Nine-tails snarled, making Naruto's head ache and throb. _**Careful. We're both not in the best of moods right now.**_

_I don't need your reminders! _Yet Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that he sounded like a little brat, complaining about dropped ice cream. _I can do what I want. You're just helping me. And why should I trust you? _he added, when a thought suddenly occurred to him. _You didn't even help me when those ninjas attacked. What was all that anyway, about making myself 'stronger' without your help? _

The Kyuubi's answer was as simple as it was barbed, dipped in a deceptive poison, hooked with a bait nobody could refuse. _**Well, all in all, I was just being…lazy. **_His voice was deliberately slow.

Naruto felt a stick snap in his grasp and expression darken furiously, but could do nothing to stop it. Instead, he focused on the inner rage boiling underneath his skin.

_Lazy? What the hell? So just because _you _felt like taking an off-day that nobody else can get, you … you say you're _LAZY?_! _Something snapped in Naruto, and a tiny, tiny part of him wondered just what was he getting so worked up over? The demon was just feeling lazy that day. It was just another misplaced emotion, cropping up at exactly the wrong time. And that same part asked why he snapped so easily, which was answered helpfully by another little voice. 'He's just being weak, that's all. No control over his emotions whatsoever,' the sniveling voice sneered. 'Not a proper shinobi.'

Those words, almost unheard by Naruto's conscience but caught at the last second, helped calm him down. His breathing steadied and his eyes faded back to their natural color. His hand loosened and the fragments of stick fell unfettered to the ground.

_**Getting violent, aren't we? **_The Kyuubi's voice could almost be considered smug. _**Listen to yourself. You should learn how to control your own emotions.**_

Naruto took a deep breath and chose not to respond. He realized he was standing stock-still in the middle of the forest, and forced his limbs to start moving once more. His hand robotically snapped off twigs at random, venturing farther away from the camp.

Somewhere around five minutes later, the familiar timbre rumbled through his head again. Reflexively, his hand tightened around the bundle of sticks.

_**Now, now, Naruto, since you've calmed down…can we talk without fighting?**_

_As if that could even be considered fighting, _he snarled, but managed to reign in his out-of-control anger and put on a mask of indifference. His legs carried him on auto-pilot back toward the camp. _What do you want?_

_**Our truce is still in order? **_the demon answered the question with a question, still sounding deceptively calm. Underneath, that current of madness that always flowed around the Kyuubi rushed faster and faster. No, the Nine-tails wasn't quite sane either. If you were a demon, how could you be?

Naruto nodded, albeit sharply. For the oddest reason, he was unwilling to say no, even though minutes before he could've sworn he was in charge, and the Kyuubi was only assisting him. And now…he said they had a truce? That meant both were equally in control. There was no 'leader', was there?

_**There's a leader, you just don't know who it is. But I do.**_

The words were uttered loudly and with precision, unable to mistake it. Yet, Naruto somehow managed to convince himself that it was just his voice speaking, and not the demon that resided inside him.

Denial. Such a powerful emotion_._

_Are we done?_

_**Mm, I suppose so. See you later, Naruto. **_His name was said in a mocking tone, and Naruto felt the Kyuubi retreat into the corners of his cage once more, curling up and waiting. Forever waiting, watching, learning, acting, _doing…_

He shook his head, not caring how strange it must seem to outsiders. He was strange himself; that was accepted and obvious. How could anyone mistake the whiskers on his cheeks? That wasn't the mark of a normal child.

Of course, this was the ninja world. Remember, anything can happen.

Naruto stepped into the clearing they'd stopped in, eyes instinctively flickering over his surroundings. Nothing had changed since the time he'd left—half an hour ago—and now.

That made him mad.

_Sasuke! _he screamed in his mind, resisting the urge to throw the wood in his hands on the ground and stomp on them. If there were two people—things—creatures that made him mad, it was Uchiha Sasuke and the Kyuubi. His face set in a silent growl and he stalked around the clearing, ready to rip his temporary, uneasy ally apart into pieces once he found him.

Yes, Naruto was definitely not in the most stable of moods. And he just didn't care.

Naruto at least had the sense to drop the sticks in a pile next to a fire-charred tree. It had obviously been hit by lightning or something similar, a part of his mind noticed. A convenient landmark, if they were ever to need one.

The rest of him was focused on finding his elusive prey. Had Sasuke left already, even though it was the first day? If he had, then let him leave! Naruto would feel no remorse; it wasn't even his idea to begin with. In fact, if he was being technical, having a supposed _partner _would only slow him down. What was the point of having a teammate if they didn't even watch your back for you?

…

Teammate.

Naruto stopped on top of a sturdy branch, having taken to the trees to better find Sasuke. He hadn't used that word in ... a very long time. Only in 'ex-teammate' and nothing else.

_Teammate._

It felt foreign in his mind. A strange word, unused and forgotten. What did teammate mean? Teamwork, team, teammate. They blurred agonizingly together in his mind, and for one brilliantly clear second, he found himself remembering the days of Team 7, forever imprinted on his mind, unwilling to disappear.

_If a memory is loved and precious enough, they will forever stay in your heart._

Or so somebody had told him once. Maybe Tsunade, perhaps Iruka, or even Sakura. Who knows? Just… why did he suddenly find himself missing the days that he'd been part of something—bigger? Why did he feel so nostalgic?

And then, like a snap, the moment was gone.

_**What are you doing, standing here? **_the Kyuubi snarled, letting his rage wash over Naruto like a tidal wave and suffocate him, a willing victim.

He didn't know why, but remembering and wishing and hoping hurt too much.

Soaking in pain and blood and rage was so much better.

_Denial, _sing-sang that voice, but Naruto paid no attention.

_**Go and find the Uchiha! If you don't, who knows what'll happen. He could've gone straight to the Akatsuki. Maybe he was a spy, he never even told you a thing! **_

_No, Sasuke wasn't a spy. I know that, _Naruto insisted stubbornly, picking that one thing out of all the others the Kyuubi had said, just to be annoying.

The fox snorted or hissed; something like the two. Maybe a mixture. _**Just go! **_

Naruto had no choice but to heed the Kyuubi's orders, sensing the imploding headache that would follow if he didn't. Soon, he found himself jumping through branches and the wind whipping his face once again. And again, he found himself wishing for that warm black cloak that remained mysteriously missing.

"Sasuke!" he yelled, not caring if anyone heard. It wasn't as if he couldn't take on a couple of missing-nins and rogues.

Naruto experimentally called Sasuke's name a couple more times, each one at different places in the forest. Finally, he grew tired, and the sun beating down overhead did nothing for his temperament, because while there was sun, there was no warmth. Stupid frigid weather. It didn't help that they were up north either.

Naruto dropped to the ground lightly, out of breath. He usually didn't get tired so fast, but to his credit, he had had barely any time to recover from the harrowing whole day run through the forest, competing against Sasuke. His chakra was nearly burnt out, just from jumping through trees. He twisted his lips into a frown and slumped against a nearby tree to rest.

"What are you doing?"

The cool voice came from right above Naruto, managing to surprise him. Luckily, Naruto didn't so much as flinch, and he was proud to say that he met Sasuke's eyes with a glare just a fierce as the one the Uchiha was giving him.

Naruto quickly pushed himself off the trunk of the tree, however, as for Sasuke not to get the wrong impression that he was tired. "I could ask the same of you," he replied hotly, suppressed anger boiling beneath the surface of the skin-deep words. At the sight of Sasuke, all the fury he'd felt over the Kyuubi and then finding his t—not teammate. Not teammate: ally _(like that's any better)_—_ally_ missing threatened to spill over. Finally there was someone he could blame it all on.

"I," Sasuke said slowly and enunciating every syllable like Naruto was a freaking retard—which he wasn't! He'd grown out of that stage five years ago, which was already late enough in the Kyuubi's book. "Got us dinner."

"Like what? Ramen?" Naruto growled, and was embarrassed to hear his stomach emit the same sound. Obviously it was craving for ramen, and Naruto couldn't help but agree.

The look on Sasuke's face was all he needed to know the answer. "Of course not. Ramen is unhealthy."

"And I suppose you're such a health nut," Naruto muttered, turning and stalking off in the direction of the sun inching west in the sky. At least he'd remembered which way the camp was; if he got lost, how humiliating would _that _be!

The rustle of branches overhead reminded him of Sasuke, jumping through the trees hazardously. "If you want to argue, I can always throw your portion into the river."

Naruto gritted his teeth, keeping silent. He sped his pace up and still reached the temporary camp later than Sasuke, which was inevitable. The first thing he saw when he reached the clearing was a fire. And then, something over the fire, and a horrified thought raced through his mind.

Please, no, not a rabbit!

Thank the gods, it wasn't. Naruto breathed a silent sigh of relief as he eyes the chunk of bread, or something, sitting on a mix-mash of twigs interlaced together. "Did you make that?" he asked, breaking the icy silence that had formed once more in between them. It seemed that whenever nobody talked, silence would bridge—or try to—the gap between them and coat it with ice. Every single time.

"No." Sasuke's answer was short and cold. "I got that and this"—he gestured to something wrapped up in cloth—"from the village nearby."

Naruto turned a startled gaze on the Uchiha, but he was bending over the fire and missed the look. "What village?"

"You didn't know? Of course not." Naruto half-expected to hear a mumbled _usuratonkachi _or _idiot, _but no. This wasn't Sasuke anymore. This wasn't Naruto anymore either; how many times would he need to remind himself that before he got it? He was a newer version of himself and he would never _be _that carefree Naruto again. That one was lost, floating among the thousands of memories mixing in the sky, having no occupants to return to, they be dead or amnesia-ridden.

_I hate this._

"It's a purely civilian village," Sasuke had continued, breaking the bread in half. "This was easy to steal." That was admitted casually and without guilt, just a simple fact from one missing-nin to another. Truth was, usually just in order to survive, rogue ninjas would have to steal to feed themselves.

"Oh."

The word was awkward to say the least and did nothing for the ice that sprung up immediately between them. Naruto glanced up to see something flying toward his face, and only his fast reflexes allowed him to make a fumbling catch of the hot bread that would have smacked him in the nose._ Ow, ow, ow, _he thought, tossing the half-loaf from one hand to another.

As soon as it cooled enough for him to hold without it burning him, he rolled it around in his hands and examined it. The bread, not to his surprise, was burned on the bottom and scorched around the sides. At least it was still soft and relatively edible.

"Here." Naruto glanced up to see something else being lobbed at him: a thin square slice of yellow followed by an equally thin piece of pink. If it weren't for Sasuke's good throwing skills or Naruto's reflexes, both the cheese and meat would've ended up in the dirt.

Naruto wasted a few seconds glaring at Sasuke—only when the other wasn't looking, of course—before his stomach reminded him of his food once more.

The bread was gone in minutes, and Naruto regretfully licked his lips, wishing for more. A rumbling stomach was also something missing-nins had to get used to.

His gaze locked with Sasuke's back, or more accurately, the fan that adorned it. He felt his lips twist into a sneer as something also twisted in his chest, reminding him of bonds better forgotten… bonds that he had left behind for good.

_I hate this…because it reminds me so much of the past._

"So, Sasuke," Naruto said abruptly, having the pleasure of seeing his ally's back tense ever so slightly before relaxing again. Damn that Uchiha and his control. "How's Itachi?"

To Sasuke's cold, distant reputation, he didn't so much as activate his Sharingan. In fact, his voice was cooler than an ice jutsu when he answered. "He must be very well off serving murderer in a bigger band of murderers. I suppose you would know, seeing how you saw him not long ago." His food had disappeared, and for the first time Naruto wondered if maybe Sasuke had been as hungry as he had been. It was hard to imagine that the oh-so-perfect Uchiha could actually have human needs like hunger.

"I did," Naruto agreed, not knowing why he was still playing this game. This game, not unlike a cat and mouse, but different. More like the bantering of Team 7, only there was no lazy Kakashi to butt in or Sakura to fawn over. Just…

Who would've thought it'd have turned out this way?

Yet Naruto still had no regrets.

Maybe they'd been burned all away by the fire of the Kyuubi's chakra that he willingly embraced, daresay even grown addicted to. It was hard not to; the power it brought would've made even the most power-hungry monster satiated.

_But a bigger part of me doesn't hate this… _

"I will kill him," Sasuke said, voice low and menacing. Naruto hadn't even become aware that Sasuke was talking until all noise suddenly ceased in the area, including bird song and the scuffle of creatures in the undergrowth. A cloud even bothered to cover the sun, sending an ominous feeling rippling over Naruto's skin.

Sasuke was as scary as ever, it seemed.

"Just like you'll kill me?" Naruto's voice was light but his eyes were serious, deadly. "Who knows, Sasuke? Maybe I'm stronger than you. In fact, I think I am."

Naruto smiled when Sasuke turned, everything but interest showing in his eyes. "You never know until you try," he sing-sang, finding it strangely amusing to rile up Sasuke. Even _if _he never responded.

Sure enough, Sasuke just got up and began walking into the trees. When he spoke, his voice was ice-cold. "Make sure you put out the fire." And then, he stopped for some inexplicable reason, much to Naruto's confusion. His foot was raised in midair, ready to stomp on the flames flickering feebly over the dying wood.

Sasuke's head turned just slightly back, not enough for Naruto to see his expression, but enough for Sasuke to see Naruto. "You…" A beat of silence.

"I?" Naruto asked expectantly.

Another beat.

"…are still a child."

_But a bigger part of me doesn't hate this_…_because it's the path I've chosen. Hate. Anger. Destiny?_

And then Sasuke vanished into the undergrowth, leaving a cursing Naruto who kicked angrily at the sparks, watching them catch on the dry grass and quickly race up the nearby tree.

He did nothing to stop it. Instead, he just turned his back and without another glance, passed Sasuke. "If you don't want to die, you'll hurry up," he called, and felt Sasuke put on a burst of chakra and speed.

They left that forest behind quickly. The villagers were quite confused as to why there was nothing but ashes in a place that had once held life.

_It's ironic that I'm the one talking about destiny now. It is my fate, right? A fate as red as blood and darker than night? _

_Then why does some part of me always feel like it's resisting?_

* * *

><p>Uchihas were not known for talking. They were not known for giving up. They weren't known for being loud, annoying, stupid, pulling pranks, being disobedient (or at least, most weren't), or planning a coup d'état—pardoning the whole most recent Uchiha generation, of course. Other than that, Uchihas were only known for being perfect. Absolute perfection.<p>

All that Nakami would be proud of, _if _she was a real Uchiha and _if _they weren't stuck in this particular situation at this particular moment. Because right now, being stoic and silent made it awfully awkward in the quiet cave, especially after her own loud accusation still bouncing off the walls.

_What do you want, murderer?_

Five minutes later though, her fierce expression was beginning to waver a bit and her legs, had they been capable of feeling real pain, would have been cramping in their firm position.

Itachi still stared at her, or maybe through her, with that disturbingly vacant expression, like he didn't see anything at all. And maybe he didn't; maybe this was just a clone or something, a…a dead log, or… Her mind desperately tried to come up with other possible answers, but her brain told her that this was the real flesh-and-blood Uchiha Itachi. There was no other, anywhere.

So that begged the question, why was he _still here? _And why hadn't he said anything? Anything at all would've been better than this stone-cold silence, hanging like a dead corpse in the air.

Excuse her for thinking up the most morbid of analogies. Nakami wasn't in the most stable of moods.

Her fists trembled once, something she noticed that Itachi noticed too, before she opened her mouth. "What do you—" she started to repeat.

Itachi suddenly took a step forward, like he'd finally decided something. He stopped just as soon as he was inside the threshold of the only home she'd known, and a fleeting expression of something crossed his features. It happened so quickly that Nakami barely caught it herself; in fact, she would've missed it if she hadn't been so trained in reading Sasuke's own ephemeral expressions.

It wasn't a look of surprise; hardly one of fear. If Nakami had to guess, she would say—from what she'd seen—that it was more like something between disappointment and intrigue. Like Itachi had found some new, interesting, _fascinating _specimen to deconstruct and observe.

She shivered.

Nakami couldn't help it; that kind of reaction was simply ingrained into you, somewhere rooted deep inside the most primal parts of your own mind. The ones that responded to unnatural fear and predators. The ones that knew about being _prey._

Unfortunately, in this case at least, Itachi was the predator. And he was an excellent predator at that.

"Well, well."

Those two words were uttered without any type of feeling at all, no snide or mocking or sarcasm. Just… _well, well. _

Itachi continued, not moving a single inch. His eyes never traveled from her, yet she knew that he was taking in his surroundings effortlessly.

Uchiha Itachi is a genius. And he always would be.

"You asked me what I want. That is an easily answered question, but I only give to receive something first. It's naturally the law of trade." His eyes finally showed some spark of interest, and the life they held was of coldness and curiosity.

_Someone who can hide what they're feeling through their eyes…is a powerful shinobi indeed._

Nakami carefully took a step back, but kept her arms open and eyes defiant. Even if the step could be interpreted as a sign of weakness, her gestures declared that they were not. Everything about this was like a carefully calculated game of chess.

_Pieces are in place…_

Itachi's eyes gleamed and he took a step forward, successfully interpreting her movements as a silent gesture to enter.

"That sounds agreeable," she said, still cautious. "If we go on your terms, then I expect information after I answer your questions."

"And what kind of information?"

"Merely how you came to know about me and my whereabouts. Your brother was very careful to hide me." Nakami watched his face carefully as she uttered the last sentence.

Itachi's eyes walled over once more, and his face settled into something that could vaguely be referred to as 'interest', if only his eyes had the same expression. "Ah, my foolish little brother."

"You still call him that," she murmured, more of a statement than a question. It was so odd talking to Itachi, _him, _like it was normal. He had never been an enemy in her book—not since after she'd learned about her gift and how to control it—but hearing Sasuke harp on and on about killing his brother… it had an effect on her, to say the least. "And yet you're a murderer."

"Murderer," Itachi repeated. "I suppose you could call me that."

Those words themselves told Nakami leagues. First and foremost, they told her that Itachi didn't know anything else about her—only that she existed. Maybe _(hopefully) _he didn't know about her curse-gift either.

"You want business, right? Then let's talk business," she instructed briskly. Nakami sat down on her mat in the center of the room, folding her legs easily. She ran a hand through her hair, feeling her fingers catch on the slightly sticky strands. A bath would need to be in order and soon.

"You want to know about me and why I am here," he said tonelessly, seating himself across from her on the stone floor. His Akatsuki cloak looked warm enough, and he made no move to indicate that he felt uncomfortable. "And…I want to know what you know. My brother has already been using you for his own superfluous needs like power, so why not I? I am just certified to your _gift _as he is."

Nakami was vaguely aware that Itachi was revealing quite a lot of hidden information in there, if only she would decipher it.

But unfortunately, the rest of her reeling in shock—shock that Itachi already _knew _everything. There was no need for her to hide it any longer, and she felt her face settle in a stone mask. "Well, then, why didn't you just say so from the beginning? It would've made things so much easier."

"And you wouldn't have called me a murderer?" he asked.

"No, when you technically aren't." She watched his eyes as he chose how to respond. They yielded nothing.

"I suppose you're right. Does my brother know?"

"No. I'm letting them…go on their own paths. Just like you have yours," Nakami said, almost sternly. There was a weird sense of relief bubbling up inside her, like some pressure had been released. The worst was over; all she would have to do now is endure the aftermath.

Itachi closed his eyes, drawing his hands into the sleeves of his cloak. "You're right. But now"—his eyes opened, swirling red and black—"I want facts. I don't have the time to spare, if you want Naruto and Sasuke to stay alive. Madara has no pity."

"Yes, Madara," she muttered, knowing how the heartless man acted. "I'll give you what you want, but only if you tell me why you're here _first._" She emphasized the last word, making sure Itachi knew that she was serious. When he nodded, obviously eager for some unknown reason to get information, Nakami said softly, "You know, you were never this exact before. Even when you had your mask on, you would still care about others. I guess even Akatsuki can change the most sure-hearted of people, huh?"

"I suppose," was all Itachi said. That and: "Does living in a cave, caged almost, change people too?"

She chuckled humorlessly. "You can thank your brother for that."

Then her gaze sharpened. "Tell me… everything."

* * *

><p>The room was cold and dark, the only dim light streaming in from a window covered with droplets of rain. The only thing visible from that window was a dense cloud of gray, impenetrable and dark with the oncoming night.<p>

Konan watched as the Deva Path gingerly got off his assigned 'bed'. The five other Paths remained immobile and looked, for the world, asleep.

"Are you sure you're okay to move?" she asked, unable to hide her concern for her friend.

Pein walked forward without a wince, though Konan could clearly see that he was unsteady on his feet. She advanced one step too, hand stretching out to help him. "You used up a lot of chakra in the last battle! Listen to me, Nagato," she not-quite-pleaded, reverting to her childhood friend's name for now. Pein paid no attention to her and continued walking toward the window.

Konan trailed behind, concern still glinting in her golden eyes. Her hands clenched reflexively in the sleeves of her Akatsuki cloak as she resisted the urge to help Pein. If he wanted her help, he would have got it by now.

The Path stopped by the window, looking down over the city he ruled. "Amegakure," he finally said, voice low. "Our village."

"Yes," she agreed, stepping up to the window too. Konan slanted a glance at the impassive features of Pein's face, unreadable as ever. "So, what did Madara talk about?"

She was careful not to put too much curiosity into the question, certain that Pein would sense her hidden prying anyway. Luckily for her, it seemed that Pein was in a good mood.

"He just wanted to know if the Paths were in good condition to fight soon. I also informed him that three Konoha shinobi entered last night, whereabouts currently unknown." A flicker of something stirred in his ringed eyes. Konan wasn't sure whether it was uncertainty or anger.

"How could they be hiding?"

"I don't know," Pein answered, frustration written over the three words. "There must be someone here in the village who's hiding them from the rain."

Konan made a slightly scoffing noise, the kind of noise she would only make around her friend. "That's not hard to find. All our ninjas are loyal, so the only ones hiding them could be traitors and black market dealers, those who dwell underneath the underneath. I can go find them if you wish." Her expression was that of a killer's, sly and cunning.

"Very well. We need to eradicate those Konoha shinobi before they become too big of an annoyance." Konan smiled briefly before cupping her hands. A second later, birds erupted from her palms, and she unhinged the window. They flew out into the blurry grayness and vanished, blending in effortlessly. Her messengers wouldn't bother the citizens of their village, because they recognized the "God's Angel's" creations that frequently patrolled the city. In fact, they welcomed them.

Pein turned away from the window, face emotionless once more. He slid back onto the cold, almost metal-like bed, closing his eyes and becoming a corpse once more.

"You were tired after all," Konan said quietly before leaving the room too. She could visit Nagato another time; right now, she had to concentrate on her creations to find where the three shinobi were hiding.

She heard footsteps approaching and turned quickly, ready to defend the most precious room in the whole building if necessary.

It wasn't, as it only turned out to be Zetsu.

He held up his hands, smiling in a familiar grotesque manner. "Konan!" he sang. She kept her face smooth, back to the silent persona she usually played. "Madara-sama calls a meeting."

"Don't add the –sama on the end," his other side growled, obviously disconcerted as to hear Madara-_sama _come from Zetsu's mouth.

"So first you tell me not to say Tobi and now not Madara-sama? How am I supposed to convey my respect then?" the White side retorted, turning and heading back down the corridor. Konan followed.

"Tobi does not convey respect, and when you say Madara-sama like that, neither does it." Black Zetsu sighed before turning their shared head to glance at Konan. "Madara says to be there at dawn tomorrow. We have important things to discuss."

"Very important," added his other side.

"Concerning two particular people who have been causing us much trouble lately…"

Their grin could've chilled even the coldest heart.

* * *

><p><strong>Hahaha, writing the Uchiha people together is so much fun. Everything's so calculated among them. And poor Naruto, he's being brainwashed by the Kyuubi.<strong>

**So, I think most people would have read the interlude before this chapter, but if you didn't… You might wanna check that out. It's nothing much, not important to the storyline, but basically just a little Naruto-b-day-present, I guess.**

**TBC!**

**-unnecessary info ahead- P.S. I doubt this person is reading this, but 'feffecrazy', thanks for your reviews, even though I think it's criticism…which is welcome, but uh yeah, I kinda mentioned that in a later a/n: Shizune and Chouji's dad shoulda died, by all rights, I'm sorry I have a forgetful memory of that particular part. And if he couldn't have fought Nagato, because the attack had already happened by the time he arrived. Pein was gone. They were just looking for him in the first place, remember? Not trying to kill his friends, which was just an added plus. And…uh… it's a fanfiction… ^-^; OOC-ness is guaranteed.**

**And now, if anyone bothered to read that whole thing, I'm sorry. I was just nicely taking out my not-really-there frustration on my a/n, so once again I apologize for that waste of time.**


	25. Chapter Twenty Three

**A/N: Ehrm…uh… Hi? Hehe, I really enjoyed the quotes this time. I mean, the second one is something Sasuke should pay attention to (Kishimoto's Sasuke), you know? Because of his obsession with revenge, he's just gonna die in the end. Preferably by Naruto. (He's not a bad character…but because of recent events, I hate him. Why Sasuke? Such a traitor.) And the first quote: Naruto was strong and didn't let the villagers' contempt for him cloud his judgment. Go Naruto! :P**

**Disclaimer: -writing in journal- _New plan! Kidnap everyone close to Naruto and force him to obey me! Ahahahaha! _(calmly ignores voices in head)**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Twenty-Three<strong>

_Don't let someone else's opinion of you become your reality. _–Les Brown

_Holding a grudge is like holding a hot coal, in the end you are the one who gets burned. _–Unknown

Ice formed on the tree trunks around them, cold and slick. Some even dared to creep onto the tree limbs, trying to trip any passing shinobi who happened to take that path. But Naruto and Sasuke always avoided them.

However, ice wasn't only in the trees.

If anything, the silence in between them had only decreased in temperature. Not only that, there was something else crackling in the fifty feet of air between them; something more like anger and bloodthirstiness, the desire to kill and revenge. Something that would raise hairs even on the most experienced of ANBU, if only because Naruto and Sasuke were both contributing to this strange feeling. And when a demon puts their heart into something like this, things could get dirty.

Neither was quite sure what had happened between them to make such violent feelings, but something definitely had happened. Whether it was done unconsciously or purposefully remained to be seen, though both suspected that it had something to do with the tense conversation about Itachi they had shared, no matter how brief it had been. And then, of course, Naruto had set the forest of fire, which hadn't helped matters.

The wind brushed its chilly fingers against the back of Naruto's neck, making him shiver and narrowly miss whacking into a low-hanging tree branch. Only his quick reflexes and acrobatic like twist in the air saved him from an icy drop onto the equally cold ground. They were farther north than before, circling around the Land of Fire to the country in which Amegakure resided.

He narrowed his eyes, focusing more on the usually simple task of jumping through trees, as ridiculous as it sounded. Even as a missing-nin, he had never traveled far from the place he once called home. So now, with pine trees pressed tightly together instead of the normal deciduous ones that habited Konoha, and the harsher weather, he felt very small and alone in the woods, even though Sasuke was merely fifty feet away.

The wind picked up in speed again as Naruto caught a flash of black farther ahead in the trees, curving south. They were traveling west in order to circle the Land of Fire's border, and unfortunately Sasuke knew the woods around here better than Naruto, so he'd been forced to let him go ahead.

Naruto copied the other's movements and felt the cold sting his cheek bitterly. At least this warped form of exercise kept him warm, for now at least. If Naruto had had less pride—most of it from the Kyuubi—and been more truthful, he might have called for a break and to find some warmer clothes. But no. Naruto was a _man_, and men didn't call for breaks to find warmer clothing.

_**And watch yourself freeze to death. Who's a man then? Nothing but a corpse. **_The fox's laughter was snide and amused. Naruto could just picture the bored expression that haunted the demon's red eyes. He knew he was bored because for the past hour, the Kyuubi had been bothering him about everything, from the weather to food to his choice of an ally.

Naruto had long since learned that the best way of antagonizing the Kyuubi but stopping the noise was to ignore him. Even though that had the backfire of harsher and harsher insults, at least it was better than answering him and provoking a huge fight that would only lead to Naruto smashing into a tree. And so, he ignored him once again.

Something wet hit Naruto's face suddenly, and he blinked in surprise. It was something cold and wet that melted instantly upon touch. Snow?

As if his thoughts had answered a prayer, thousands upon thousands of snowy white flakes fluttered from the sky, looking eerily like that Akatsuki member's creations. They drifted along the wind, blowing whatever way they pleased, going along with what life had planned for them: a touch and a quick melted death. So much like humans.

A part of Naruto, he was slightly ashamed to admit, was reveling in the newfound snow. It had snowed before, yes, but it was always something so intriguing to him. Why did snow melt so rapidly? Why was it so quick to vanish from the earth? Did it appear once again to fall through the sky for a short life before disappearing? Why was it … so white?

_**You know, I could say the same things about you humans as you do about snowflakes. To die so easily, so quickly, must be a terrible life indeed…**_ A dark laugh.

And yet, you seem to have no patience at all to spare. Naruto was careful not the think that directly toward the Kyuubi; if he didn't, the fox couldn't catch it. Only by random chance did he actually hear what Naruto was thinking.

Another thing that enraptured him to the delicacy of the white flakes was the contrast it made to red blood.

Naruto had made that particular discovery not so long after leaving Konoha—wasn't it strange how everything seem marked by 'before' and 'after'?—during winter. He'd been fighting one of the hardest opponents he had ever fought, if only because the man had been as tactless as he was clever. There was no predicting his movements; although now, the missing-nin would have been easy prey.

The man had used earth jutsus and taijutsu, cracking up the earth and destroying what little plant life had been left. There had been a cloudy mask over the sky like today, and Naruto remembered how snow had began falling the minute his kunai found itself stilling a beating heart. The white had covered the dirty frozen ground left by their battle, and the man had bled a startling crimson onto the snowy whiteness, blooming like scarlet flowers embroidered on a background of white.

It was a lovely contrast, Naruto had found. A fascinating one.

The snow quickly started falling faster and faster till it near resembled a blizzard, just without the howling winds a snowstorm brought. Naruto's nose felt numb and so did his fingers, though his legs were burning. He had to continually shake snow from his hair.

Naruto squinted his eyes again, trying to make out the black figure that should've been easy to spot against the white. Then again, trees should've been easy to spot, and they certainly weren't.

There! A flash brought his attention to something merely feet ahead of him, and he almost missed a branch in surprise. When had Sasuke gotten so far behind? Was he going slower too? Naruto put a few extra bounds into his jumps, and quickly caught up to the Uchiha. He slanted a gaze at the profile of Sasuke, who did nothing but keep moving. That same cold tension and raging anger swirled between them, unnamed but dangerous nonetheless.

"Are you stopping?" Naruto finally asked. No, damn fox, he was not tired, not hungry, not cold… he wasn't! So why couldn't he stop shivering?

_**Even the strongest humans fall prey to the claws of illness, **_the Kyuubi was saying importantly. _**Heat and cold are no different, brat. **_

_Don't act like you know anything, _Naruto snapped back, too tired to realize that he had unconsciously answered the demon fox and broken his promise to himself not to. Oh well.

"We can't waste any time." The words were barely caught by Naruto's still sharper-than-normal ears, and Sasuke pressed on, leaving no choice but for Naruto to follow through the impromptu snowstorm. He prayed internally that he wouldn't develop frostbite and die.

Half a day later—or was it a day? An hour?—anyway, when the sky had grown darker than normal and the snow had stopped, they did too.

Naruto nearly collapsed onto the ground, but managed to keep himself upright. His eyes betrayed none of his fatigue, and neither did his body, but his mind felt the strain very clearly. The distance they had traveled wasn't even close to how far they had that first day, but the snow and the weather had made it so much worse. To top it off, he was utterly and completely lost.

_I hate having to rely on someone._

_**You brought this all onto yourself, **_the Kyuubi said smugly. Naruto didn't bother to reply, which only goaded another sarcastic remark. Except this one was filled with malice. _**I promised you power, but you wouldn't even trust me. We could have been great, Naruto. How do you know this Uchiha can give you what I can?**_

_You're making it sound like I did a great wrong. Like I was the one who betrayed _you! Naruto's inner voice wasn't angry like the words were. No, instead it was cold and detached, simply delivering ruthless facts.

The Kyuubi just laughed eerily again, the dark sound reverberating around his skull once before it and the fox crept back into the darker corners of his mind. He breathed a silent sigh, opening his eyes from when he'd closed them.

The clearing they'd stopped in was whiter than paper, covered with a sheet of snow and under it, ice, more than six inches deep. It was unmarred by human hands—or feet—and looked like the perfect setting for a perfect story, if only it wasn't late at night, a night so cold even the moon wouldn't venture out from behind its blanket of clouds. Naruto's breaths turned into smoky puffs of vapor the second they left his mouth, and he was sure his cheeks and nose were a rosy red. Unfortunately, they also felt like chunks of ice.

Sasuke, he noted to his somewhat petty satisfaction, also looked as miserable as he did. Even though the Uchiha had a meager, ratty cloak that appeared to offer as much protection as Naruto's jacket did in the biting wind. Naruto smirked, rubbing his hands together as the same wind whipped his cheeks mercilessly, tugging his hair and swirling around his face.

"So, Sasuke, what do we do now? We're stuck in the middle of a snowstorm." His eyes were challenging, but the other didn't back down.

"We get warm. If you don't want to die, that is." Naruto recalled similar words uttered by himself, no less, not so long before. _If you don't want to die, you'll hurry up. _It reminded him of the almost nostalgic, almost melancholy—almost—days of his long ago Team 7.

Scaredy-cat.

_I don't think any of us now are the scaredy-cats, _Naruto thought with a sudden rush of hot satisfaction. _We both ended up going down similar paths. You finally have to acknowledge me…because I am stronger than you are._

"And then…we keep going." His eyes were unreadable as always. That was one thing that hadn't changed; Naruto still couldn't tell what was going on in that stuck-up, arrogant head of the Uchiha. His own eyes narrowed too as he heard the unspoken challenge that followed any sentence like that: That is…if you can keep up.

Naruto turned abruptly away, not refusing the challenge but not accepting it either. There wasn't exactly a place to get warm out in the frigid night air, among the drifts of snow, so he just leaned against a tree and blew air over his numbing fingers. What he wouldn't do for just one fire. Just one. But he knew it would be a futile thing to ask, because even he, the village's former idiot, knew that lighting a fire would be a dead giveaway to any possible pursuers.

Sasuke didn't move from his spot, choosing to stand in the wind and snow like he was a statue. Did he think he was impervious to nature? Naruto snorted. Sometimes being strong meant showing your weaknesses; it wasn't like shivering once would break his perfect reputation forever.

He turned his eyes up to the stars, hidden behind a thick cover of clouds and darkness. The wind howled, threatening to bring more ice and snow down upon the two figures standing far apart.

Amegakure…

His thoughts turned in the direction of the village they were traveling toward, the one where Pein was rumored to live in. If for no other reason than that, that was why they were going to that village: because if Pein was there, why not the rest of the Akatsuki? And if it was only Pein, Nagato, whichever, at least they could take down one arm of the monster, right? It was a good start for the rest of the destruction.

Naruto's breaths hardly did anything for his fingers, but still he persisted, thinking furiously. Being a missing-nin had required him to do that arduous task more than once to avoid capture and the like. All he could say was that now, he had a new respect for Shikamaru and a new understanding for why the lazy boy was, well, lazy all the time.

After the recent battle that had occurred, all sides of the battle had retreated to lick their wounds and recover. From what little Naruto had heard, the recovery period was about up. He knew Konoha was beginning to send out higher ranked missions again, but nothing was heard from Suna or about the Akatsuki. But based on the information he knew, if Pein was in Amegakure, most likely the rest of the Akatsuki would be too. It would be considered a 'safe spot' to rest.

Naruto felt a grin stretch his lips. Safe spot, indeed. How surprised would they be when they were attacked in their own nest?

See, this was why he liked being the predator so much. The intoxicating feeling of power, strength, to defeat someone and see them dead at your feet… or maybe that was just the Kyuubi speaking. Either way, Naruto knew he wouldn't have changed the path his feet were set on. This would be his—their—biggest heist yet. If only they could pull it off without dying.

The feeling warmed him briefly, and he snapped up, ready to go again. Sasuke watched him impassively before turning and setting off, at another breakneck pace. Naruto caught up quickly and without another word, the two missing-nin set off to Amegakure.

What they didn't know was that Sakura and her team were in Amegakure too. Fate often had the cruelest mind of all, it seemed. Toying with people's lives and feelings like they're nothing; how is that kind? Fate can take away the baby who hasn't even breathed its first breath and break bonds that should've been tied forever. Fate…is cruel. And fate is inescapable, as Naruto would soon learn.

* * *

><p>The stone corridor they currently walked upon was creepily like Orochimaru's hideout, but without strange patterns on the walls. There were candles that flickered softly every time a breeze wafted through, turning the walls yellow and orange, and there were the hallways branching off crazily and doorways set into walls at seemingly random places.<p>

Then, there was the smell.

It almost made Sakura want to gag, but she firmly resisted doing so. She had already endured thousands of different smells before, like death and rotting flesh and disease, so how should this be any worse? Except it was. This smell—was like all of the three combined with the sewer, and everything humans threw into it.

Sakura could see that Yamato wasn't enjoying the smell either, but he didn't comment so neither did she. Chiyoko glanced back occasionally as if to make sure they were still following her, and Sai walked silently beside her.

They had walked for about fifteen minutes in the damp, chilly air of the tunnel when the woman stopped unexpectedly in the middle of the hallway. Sakura was quietly relieved; they had turned so many times that she had no way of knowing where they were, and her muscles ached from the fight with the five shinobi. That reminded her suddenly. "Why didn't you bring the corpses? They're still there on the ground."

Chiyoko glanced briefly at her again, eyes unreadable in the shadows, before shrugging and making a series of hand signs before biting her thumb, drawing blood. She slammed it on the wall, not even looking where her hand landed.

"My people will sense that there are corpses. They will go take care of them. It's nothing you need to worry about," she said coolly, obviously unwilling to share any more information than she had to. Chiyoko turned her attention to the wall, where a door had shimmered into existence swiftly and noiselessly.

"Summon a door? Ingenious," Yamato complimented off-handedly, arms crossed. Chiyoko flashed a bright smile, looking for a second eerily like that of a pleased snake.

"Isn't it? I invented it." She twisted the iron knob of the plain black door, pushing it open. It led into another hallway, brighter lit and considerably warmer. _This must be where the actual hideout part of this starts, _Sakura guessed.

"Although," Chiyoko was saying, "you need to know where the exact place to summon it is, because well, summon the door in a wrong place and you can't open it. There are different doors for different hallways. It's extremely complicated." Her voice and gestures all indicated that she was a smug, proud person, or so thought Sakura.

_But just because you're proud doesn't mean you aren't clever. A truly smart shinobi knows that even if you have pride, there comes a time when you must acknowledge others' abilities and even forfeit your own pride. First and foremost… life comes before pride._

Or so Tsunade had said. Sakura was struck with a sudden urge to see her sensei and her familiar words and gestures. The last time they had talked, Sakura had been angry and hurting, agonized over their recent failure.

Now that she thought about it, she'd been angry the time before that, and before that too. When was the last time she had actually talked civilly to Tsunade?

Her eyebrows drew down, hardening her eyes and mouth. She could make amends with Tsunade after this mission, _when _they returned alive. Not if, when. Sakura had to believe that. But for now, anything not related to Amegakure and their survival must be put aside, for that same survival.

"You can rest in here." Chiyoko's voice brought her back to reality, and she looked up to see the woman leaning against another plain door, nearly blending into the wall. The hallway might be better lit and warmer, but everything was still the same drab color.

The three filed in. It felt like they were prisoners and not guests to Sakura; though, seeing the high-and-mighty look unconcealed in those amber eyes told her maybe she wasn't wrong. After all, if three strangers came to Konoha and asked for information and a place to stay, would she willingly give in? Unlikely.

"We will talk in half an hour." Sakura half-turned to take in the shadowed figure still standing by the door. "I hope you come up with valid reasons as to why you're here, Sai. Think carefully about how much to tell them." Her eyes gleamed once in the dark before the door slammed shut. An ominous click told them that the door was now locked.

Silence reigned for a bit longer before relinquishing its hold to Sai, who fake-smiled and said, "Isn't she a pleasant person?"

Yamato gave a dry half chuckle, lighting the solitary candle by the door, half melted and covered with dried drops of wax. He blew out his handmade match before looking around. "This is a…nice place."

"It could be worse," Sai commented, sitting down on a dirty cot with only a gray comforter to keep away the chill. "We could be still out in the rain, and more ninjas that actually know assassination techniques could be coming after us. Then Pein would find us and we would all be dead—"

"We get it, Sai," Sakura interrupted dryly, shrugging off her rain poncho before shaking out her pink hair, tangled and spiky from the rain. She also tugged off her black gloves, wet material clinging stubbornly to her skin. "Oh, how I hate rain." She flopped down onto the only other bed in the room, leaving Yamato to join Sai.

Yamato laughed again before sobering, looking at Sai, who merely looked innocently back. He narrowed his eyes and Sakura growled faintly, her previous good mood gone in a flash. The irritable, volatile Sakura was by now long familiar. Both of them told Sai without words that now wasn't the time for games. They needed to know anything he knew.

After all, wasn't that what comrades were for?

"You know I cannot tell you everything," Sai said seriously. "That would mean revealing thousands of secrets about Root and Chiyoko and everyone who has ever assisted me, something even without the seal I forbid myself to do." There was no doubt at that moment that Sai didn't have loyalty.

_It was just that sometimes, he felt the wrong loyalty to the wrong people…Like everybody else in the word that we could mention. _Sakura's eyes traveled to the ceiling, waiting for Sai to start his tale.

And so he did.

"Chiyoko isn't her real name, first of all. She…is a strange woman, governed by strange beliefs." A sarcastic smirk. "Names are sacred to her, but Chiyoko means 'child of a thousand generations', which is fitting. But I suppose before I get into that you need to know about her past, or at least some of it…" He trailed off slightly, probably wondering how much to reveal.

"Was she part of Root with you?" Yamato took the chance to ask, hands held tightly together.

Sai nodded. The shadows from the candlelight flickered strangely across his face, making him almost appear like a grotesque monster for a brief second. "She was. I didn't know her very well then; she was usually secluded from the group, but I know she was strong. I have never seen her in battle, nor do I want to." His eyes narrowed a bit. "Root is different from anything you've ever experienced. We kill others to kill our own emotions, like Kirigakure. And it works. But Chiyoko…she disappeared before she was forced to do that."

"So…is she still normal? With feelings?"

"No," Sai told Sakura. "Chiyoko didn't have any feelings to begin with."

The look on Yamato's and Sakura's faces told him leagues. They clearly were confused and didn't believe him. "It's complicated to explain. But she didn't, and she is powerful because of that. That and the fact that she can make up emotions that she doesn't, in reality, feel."

The other two slowly nodded, processing the information. Sai took the incentive to continue his story.

"She ran away from Root and became a rogue ninja for a while, hunting on her own and attacking villages whenever she pleased. I heard that she had disappeared, but I never knew or bothered to find out why. To me, she was simply a traitor. And she remained like that for a good couple more years until I met you and Naruto." Sai paused for a second. "That's all you really need to know about Chiyoko's past…"

"Wait, how did you meet her again? And why did we have to go to that dango shop?" Yamato asked.

Sai smiled, almost a genuine one. "Weren't you the one who suggested we eat? And also, she used to work there. It was close to the plaza we were in before, with the entrance, and it provided her with a cover that was necessary until she could find enough supporters and a place to call a hideout."

Sakura noticed he didn't answer the first part of Yamato's question, but didn't press it. Background info was always background info—only abilities and current statuses were ever important. Sai would tell them when he was ready to and not before.

"What about her name?" she couldn't help asking. Why _child of a thousand generations?_

"It is a pun," Sai replied instantly. "Chiyoko doesn't have a kekkai genkai, but she does have a special power that she alone hones and uses. I don't know what it is," he answered quickly, seeing Sakura open her mouth, "and like I said before, I don't want to. Perhaps one or two people have seen it, with her permission, and stayed alive. Usually, you see her technique and that's the last thing you see. All I can tell you about her abilities is that she uses a form of alchemy, or something like what Orochimaru used to use. That's why she collects corpses."

Sakura suppressed a shudder, still unable to conceive _why _anyone would want corpses of all things. Corpses! Disgusting, dead bodies that only used to contain life, long cold and often rotting. At least, those were the state of the ones brought to her to take care of, usually taken home from a mission. Autopsies were unpleasant work but necessary for a medic-nin like her.

"Child of a thousand generations," Sai was continuing, "means just that. What else I know of her abilities that she's told me is that she is the only one with her power in this generation, but there have been more before her, one for each generation. I'm thinking it isn't a heredity trait; someone probably taught it to her during the years she was a missing-nin. I just don't know who."

"It would help if we knew more information on this technique she uses," Yamato muttered, bringing his still folded hands up under his chin. His elbows rested on his knees that were still damp from the rain; his poncho hadn't stretched that far down. "I'm sure some ANBU probably would have heard of it…"

Sakura closed her eyes, letting the blackness take over for a brief tantalizing bit before letting them blink drearily open again. She sat up, combing her fingers through her hair before focusing chakra to her fingers. "Tell us more after we talk to her. Right now, let me heal our wounds while we come up with a reason why we need her help. Yamato."

Yamato got up and indicated a few bruises. "That's all." She nodded and put her hand over the areas, quickly healing him. They had to be strong for whatever lay in the future.

Sai swallowed, wishing for a glass of water. He didn't ever remember talking that much. Normally, he preferred to stay silent and observant, although this time he hadn't been given a choice in the matter. And now, he would have to talk some more. Was there no more justice left in this world?

"We know why we need her help. We can't get anywhere in Amegakure without being detected except for the underground, and I daresay even Pein doesn't know about Chiyoko. She's lived here for more than five years and has been very careful not to be seen."

"Then what do we tell her? I know, Sai, that she isn't the type of person to just accept an offer for help, selflessly and generously. She's a shrewd person. I can see it in her eyes."

"You can't wrong her for that," Sai said quietly. "Chiyoko is just trying to protect the people that have pledged their lives for her. There are more people here than you know… But you are right, Ugly. She will want a favor in return, or perhaps even more."

Sakura felt a wry little smile twist her lips at the 'nickname' he had so kindly bestowed on her. Something also twisted in her chest as she beckoned him. "Come here, Sai. Let me look at your wounds."

He shook his head, also smiling a tiny smile. "I don't have any. Check yourself, Sakura. It's okay to take care of yourself, you know. Sometimes, there will be someone else watching over you." He watched as Sakura's eyes softened, glowing with a slight warmth that lit the fire back into her eyes, sparking and green. "And don't worry. I'll take care of talking to Chiyoko."

She nodded, looking down and focusing on a cut near her wrist. It was shallow and had long since stopped bleeding, but was still raw and stinging. Her hair shadowed her expression as she whispered, "You changed, Sai. Think of when you were still that annoying Sasuke-kun look-alike, faking a spy and annoying us."

"That's what Beautiful said too," he commented, slightly surprised. It was rare Sakura bestowed praise on anyone. That wasn't to say she was unkind though.

"Although _that _is still an unfortunate part that you lack." Her eye twitched as she looked back up, something bittersweet and sarcastic brewing in her gaze. "But…thank you."

Sai didn't get a chance to ask what exactly she was thanking him for as the door burst open, right through the lock and the hinges. It collapsed in a cloud of dust on the floor, the boom bouncing off the walls and ringing in their ears. When the dust cleared, it revealed a burly man, dressed in a deep red cloak without sleeves—like a shroud—and a hood covering his eyes and hair. It was all very mysterious, yet none of the three felt any intimidation at all.

The man turned and walked away, still without a word. Sai followed him first, leaving Yamato and Sakura to hurry and catch up before the strange man disappeared entirely.

He led them through another maze of confusing turns and corridors. Sakura guessed that their time was up, and she was right. The man finally stopped in front of two humongous double doors, iron and steel with heavy bolted bars sitting in an X shape across the front. It looked almost too heavy to push open, but the man did so with ease, making Sakura wonder if he too used chakra induced strength to punch and kick.

They were led into a room darker than the still dim hallways outside, spare one torch flickering feebly at the very back of the room. It appropriately silhouetted the almost throne-like chair placed just feet in front of it, situated at the end of another long, narrow, arching stone corridor. It was like this whole thing was made of an endless amount of underground tunnels, Sakura noticed, and it was starting to get on her nerves.

As they got closer, the three Konoha ninja made out a shape sitting on the chair, and without even looking at it they all knew who it was. _Chiyoko._

"Hello. I hope you had a long and good chat about me?" Sure enough, the high, haughty voice called, soaring over their heads and grating in Sakura's ears. She just couldn't stand people like this; it was an oddity why she even liked—_loved_, something whispered in her mind—Uchiha Sasuke in the first place.

But then again, Sasuke…had always been a special case.

"Only if you think we did," Sai answered smoothly, stepping forward in front of them. Almost like he was protecting him, Sakura mused, except she knew that Sai would never try and be that arrogant. Because only arrogant people assumed that others could protect even themselves, and had to go out of their way to do that. It was best to discover self-defense early in the game, or so Sakura had learned.

Chiyoko leaned forward slightly on her chair, hands gripping the sides. Her expression could almost be what you called interest, except that now Sakura knew she was incapable of real expressions, and that made all the difference.

"So what reasons have you come up with?" she asked, bluntly. Her eyes gleamed like an animal's in the dark.

"Your goal … is still the same, isn't it?" The question made Chiyoko arch an eyebrow curiously.

"What of it? You know what it is, Sai." She tapped her finger impatiently on the arm of the chair.

Sakura caught Yamato throwing a sharp glance at the pale-skinned boy before them, and wondered what did Chiyoko mean by that? It sounded terribly, dramatically sinister, like something that would come out of a movie or one of Jiraiya-sennin's romanticized plots. Was there an ulterior motive to this? What did the woman really want? Questions spun in her mind like a whirlpool.

"Very well." Sai didn't even turn to give them a backwards glance as he said, "If you help us get information on Akatsuki, we will help you capture Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

><p>"Are we almost there?"<p>

"Almost, Ino. You know where we are."

"Yeah, but it feels shorter when I ask! Can you blame me?"

"Actually, I can, when you've been asking that question for every minute that's passed."

"Shikamaru, lighten up. You don't have to be so gloomy when we completed the mission!"

"Whose side are you on, Chouji? I'm guessing you'll just want to go celebrated at the Barbe-Q restaurant again?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Guys, stop fighting! And by the way…are we almost there now?"

Shikamaru sighed exasperatedly, wishing he could spare a hand to rub his forehead. The mission had indeed been successful, although the journey certainly hadn't been easy. The man they were assigned to escort had been more sour than the crankiest old man in Konoha and acted like he was the smartest man to walk the earth. And he'd only been a civilian to boot! The man's personality had roused even Shikamaru's temper more than once, although they'd been forced to keep their anger in check.

He'd thought that the journey back would have been much faster, not having to stop and wait every five minutes for the man to 'take a break' because his back was aching from some unknown ailment, but Ino's questions just made it worse. It should've been an easier journey—at least on the nerves—but no, the world seemed to be against him today.

"Ino—" he began again, when Ino suddenly halted on the branch in front of him. She nearly caused a domino effect when Shikamaru was forced to catapult over her and Chouji. "What was that for?" His voice held that same not-so-rare—at least in recent days—anger.

"Shh," she hissed, turning fierce blue eyes on him. "Don't you hear it? Or feel the chakra?"

Shikamaru frowned, facing the direction they'd been going in and concentrating. Ino was right, to his surprise. In this part of the country, there were still trees that had leaves, spare as they were. Evergreen trees, or something. There was the faintest sound of leaves brushing leaves, almost blending into the wind rustling ahead, but significant enough to stand out. Who could it be? Judging by the chakra, the intruders—three of them—were still a good distance away, but if the sound could reach them _here_…

Inexperienced, he decided. Not necessarily inexperienced ninjas themselves, but inexperienced in jumping through trees. No Konoha shinobi would make such a racket. That left someone from the other Clans, and as far as he knew, the chunin exams were still a while away.

"Let's get higher," he suggested, thinking furiously. Scouting ahead would be the best idea; the shinobi coming toward them probably wouldn't even hear the scout over the noise they made. Although why were they coming this way? It was toward the border of the Land of Fire. Maybe they were rogues? He narrowed his eyes. "Ino."

The blonde swung her head toward him expectantly. "Yes?"

"Go scout ahead, see who these three ninjas are. After you find out, come straight back."

"Got it!" She jumped off, hiding expertly among the foliage. Soon she was out of sight and out of hearing. Shikamaru sighed again, and Chouji smiled.

"It's tiring to be the leader all the time, isn't it Shikamaru?"

"Yeah, you don't know," Shikamaru muttered, closing his eyes and appearing to the world asleep.

It seemed merely seconds later, Ino had returned, breathing hard. Her eyes glittered with something like excitement, and she quickly blurted her report. "It's Suna-nin! Two men and Temari."

"Temari?" Shikamaru repeated, sitting straight up. Temari had visited Konoha more than once, and he'd gone to Suna before too. They knew each other well, but why would the Kazekage send someone like her out here? And why were they coming _from _Konoha? He thought quickly. "If it's Temari, then we should be fine. They wouldn't attack us, so let's wait here for them." Chouji and Ino nodded.

A couple minutes later, the three Suna-nin came into view, moving pretty fast for those who were used to sand and not trees. Shikamaru dropped down in front of them, flanked by Ino and Chouji.

Temari didn't look surprised, though her two subordinates did. She stopped somewhat clumsily on a branch but didn't let her landing faze her; instead, she placed a hand condescendingly on the handle of the fan strapped to her back and narrowed cold teal eyes. "Shikamaru, huh? And Ino and Chouji. That's a pleasant surprise."

"Temari, what do you want?" Shikamaru's voice sounded tired, which was no surprise considering the trials he'd been through. "And why are you coming from Konoha?"

"Ha, don't worry," Temari snorted, shaking her head. "We weren't attacking or stealing. Gaara wouldn't dare risk our alliance for something like that. We just made a detour." Her face remained impassive as Shikamaru examined it, trying to determine if she was lying or not, but even he couldn't penetrate the mask. He did notice some other things though.

Temari seemed to be in no pain, which meant Suna had probably recovered from the battle with Akatsuki and Naruto. After all, why shouldn't they? It had been weeks ago, a longer period of time than the small battle the Konoha 10 fought later. If they were out doing missions, why wouldn't Suna? Still…something was off.

"Where are you going then?" he asked, trying to find what he was missing. Because Shikamaru was missing something big, something that felt just out of his reach. Unfortunately, it also looked like Temari wanted to guard that secret.

"When did it become your business?"

"It became my business and Konoha's when you entered our land. We should at least have a right to know why Suna is intruding, alliance or not," he growled.

"We're just carrying out a mission, no different from you," Temari sneered back, acting a lot like the Temari the three had first met in the chunin exams. That Temari had been annoying, and Shikamaru found her no different now.

"Just tell me why you came and then you can go!"

"Be a man and make me," the Suna-nin scoffed.

Chouji butted in momentarily. "That would be ungentlemanly," he called.

"I'm a ninja, not some fragile civilian woman!" Temari snapped, and before Chouji could retort, Shikamaru held up a weary hand.

"Just stop," he said. "If you won't tell me, fine. I'm trusting you that it isn't about our village though. If it was…you won't get away with it." Shikamaru stepped back, allowing free passageway out of the Land of Fire.

Temari looked surprised before quickly covering it up, smirking. "Fine then." She waved to her ninjas, who sprang ahead, still clumsily and haltingly. Ino couldn't suppress a giggle, which only earned her a dark glare from Temari. She prepared to leave before pausing for a second, glancing back for a second.

"I promise we didn't do anything to harm Konoha." There was a strange stress on the last word, and she hesitated again before muttering, "Gaara will be mad…" Temari looked up. "Suna is joining the hunt too."

And then she left, leaves falling in her wake, leaving three very confused shinobi to ponder her words.

They reached the village not half a day later, hurrying instantly to Tsunade's room the moment they arrived.

"Tsunade-sensei!" Ino yelled, banging on the door before barging in. The Hokage looked up from amid two towering stacks of paperwork, not a hair out of place and a pen in her hand. She looked a lot like the Tsunade they used to know, and not like the older and older woman that had been peeking out from the genjutsu recently.

"What is it, Ino?"

"We've returned from our mission," Shikamaru said, pushing his way to the front. He laid the scroll with their mission report on her desk that Chouji had written before stepping back.

"Was it successful?" Tsunade asked absent-mindedly as she scribbled down something else on the paper in front of her before setting it aside and reaching for a new document.

The three nodded…and waited awkwardly, not sure what to say. Ino threw a look at Chouji, who glanced meaningfully at Shikamaru, who shrugged like he was saying, _What do you want me to do? _Ino then shoved him.

"Why are you still here?" The Hokage looked up, confused. "You're dismissed."

Despite the order, Shikamaru stepped forward again. "Tsunade-sama." She raised an eyebrow, pen still poised above the paper. "We encountered something on our way home." He quickly told her of Temari and her strange words.

Tsunade was silent for a beat after he finished, expression musing. "Suna is joining the hunt too? What does that mean? And why would Gaara be mad about her telling you that?" Shikamaru helplessly shook his head.

"Maybe they're talking about missions or something. Or the chunin exam…?" he suggested.

"Yeah," Ino agreed, "or battles. Like the one with Naruto."

"Naruto!" Tsunade gasped, slamming her hand on her desk. "Hunt: Uzumaki Naruto! I get it." Her eyes hardened suddenly. "So is Gaara saying he's going to hunt for Naruto too? Why wouldn't he want us to know that?" She stared for a moment at her hand while the three younger shinobi before her struggled to sort out her words.

"Tsunade-sama…"

"Go have fun after completing your mission," Tsunade ordered. She sat back down in her desk, eyes still dark with thinking. "Neji and his team are back, and so is Kiba's. They have some interesting news; you might as well catch up."

Shikamaru began backing toward the door, along with Chouji. Ino lingered behind one more second. "What about Sakura?" Her voice was almost fearful, but for what, Shikamaru couldn't guess.

Tsunade didn't look at them as she answered, "I don't know."

They closed the door softly behind them, hearing the sound of glass clinking against wood. Shikamaru feared that they had just reverted Tsunade back to her more depressed self with their news—good or bad waiting to be seen—but what could they have done about it? That was the leader's burden to carry.

He tilted his head, taking in Ino's worried expression and Chouji's, well, hungry one. "Come on. I think we will celebrate tonight, along with our friends. How about it?"

They both agreed, and he even managed to get Ino's eyes to lighten a bit. But as Shikamaru wandered outside into the stormy air, clouds brewing overhead, he remembered Tsunade's words, hopelessness ringing true in every syllable.

_I don't know._

* * *

><p><strong>If this chapter seems shorter, gomen (my use of my meager Japanese vocabulary right there.) There's more words, I promise… Also note, I don't really know anything about Root… T_T Going off of what I know here, sorry. I wonder if they persecute people who run away? Takigakure = hidden waterfall village.<strong>

**Oh the joy! I don't have school tomorrow! Or Monday! I will use this time to write…and write some more… *nods* And now, since I wrote what I consider a long a/n in the beginning, I'll stop bothering you guys now. Oh, of course, please review! :)**

**TBC!**


	26. Chapter Twenty Four

**A/N: Chapter 24 already! *sobs dramatically* Plot…is going to speed up soon… just need to get around to doing it :D Also, I realized I made a stupid mistake last chapter (I think I was reading _Warriors_ before I wrote that part) and when I said 'someone from another Clan' I meant village. You know, if anyone cared. Actually, I made a lot of stupid errors last chapter… *smacks* Aaand at the ending a/n it said the Takigakure thing, pay no attention. *hits hands again* Now that my rambling is done, please enjoy chap 24.**

**Disclaimer: Mirror, mirror on the wall, who deserves Naruto most of all? –mirror cracks- Darn you!**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Twenty-Four<strong>

_Hold fast to dreams  
><em>_For if dreams die  
><em>_Life is a broken winged bird  
><em>_That cannot fly.  
><em>_Hold fast to dreams  
><em>_For when dreams go  
><em>_Life is a barren field  
><em>_Frozen with snow.  
><em>—Dreams, Langston Hughes

_Out of love, sacrifice is born…Hate is born, and we are able to know pain. _–Pein, _Naruto_

Sakura was by no means a dumb shinobi, just as Yamato wasn't some gennin pretending to be strong. So why was it that the only emotion she was experiencing was that: dumbstruck?

She was pretty sure her eyes were wide open and her mouth was starting to hang, but really, could you blame her? How was one supposed to react with the news that their supposed _ally _was hunting the one person they, well, they were hunting too? But nevertheless, that one person was still someone Sakura considered precious, even though for his sake they had to kill him.

Inside herself, she was waging a mini battle. Torn, half of her wanted to shout "_WHAT?_" and then knock out some things—particularly someone whose name started with S or C, she couldn't quite decide—while the other half of her told Inner Sakura to be quiet and pay attention to her surroundings… _then _knock some people out.

In front of the two people he had just deliberately shocked, Sai uttered a silent sorry. He hadn't forgotten about Chiyoko's goal, exactly, but there hadn't been time to explain it fully to Yamato and Sakura. Even if he had broached the subject, what could he say without having to explain everything? 'Oh, I forgot to add that my friend here also happens to be intent on killing Naruto, you know, who we're also supposed to kill? Is that okay with you?' No, he couldn't very well reveal that back in the sealed room. So with no hesitation or remorse in his heart, Sai turned back to face Chiyoko and continued to strike their devil's deal.

"What do you say?" he asked, taking in the intrigued expression still placed on her usually expressionless face. She blinked, before leaning forward.

"You were always a clever one, Sai," Chiyoko muttered, curving her lips a bit into a smile that Sai recognized well. It was very much the same to the ones he used to give, before he discovered what a genuine smile was. Her smile was about as real as a plastic doll. "And… what you offer is definitely tempting."

"But not enough," Sai guessed, feeling the double burning gazes of his captain and his teammate resting on his back. One felt stronger than the other, almost like it was trying to burn a hole into him. Sakura, obviously. It almost pleased him to know that there was still some resemblance to the Sakura from before, even if it took Naruto's doom to bring it out. Not that he was really considering turning over their friend to someone like Chiyoko.

Said woman was shaking her head regretfully. No, scratch what he had said earlier—it wasn't only her smile that was fake, it was everything about her. Yet there was something authentic about her too, even if most of her emotions were faked and forced; somewhere, deep inside her, she had to be the smallest part human. After all, she did take care of all her followers living underground with her, and that had to count for something.

"What will it take, then? All we ask for is your protection for a brief amount of time while we gather information on the Akatsuki. It is also to your interests, I understand, if we take them out." He kept a careful eye on her when he spoke.

Chiyoko laughed briefly. "Yes, yes, you're smart. The Akatsuki are such pests." Her gaze darkened infinitesimally. "They brainwash the people here and make them think that they are the kings. Amegakure should be rebelling! Pein and their precious Angel are no better than Hanzo was."

She caught Sakura's surprised look. "Surprise you? I know about Pein and the Akatsuki, more than you'd think."

Sakura just looked away mutely so Chiyoko couldn't read her eyes. That didn't faze her really, the part about Pein. She didn't know why, but something made her assume everyone knew about the supposed leader of Akatsuki, even if they didn't. No, what had briefly alarmed her was the 'Angel' part. Sakura's heart had jumped into her throat when she heard the word; it must have come when Naruto kept sending his corpses, signed with his angel wings.

But whoever this 'Angel' was (probably someone in the Akatsuki, her mind told her) it wasn't Naruto.

Next to her, Yamato was deep in thought. This woman in front of them was obviously not a normal woman with normal ambitions—but she was that: ambitious. He could tell in the way she spoke, the words she used, even the tightening of her fists. As intentional as her made-up feelings were, sometimes it could backfire when she acted upon them without thinking. Hey, Yamato was part of the ANBU, the Hokage's guard. He was ordered to notice these small details.

But what could Chiyoko possibly be ambitious about? he wondered. Was she so ambitious she needed Naruto? For what, though? His power? Something occurred to him then: _Or did she want his dead body?_

Yamato narrowed his eyes at the mysterious woman still conversing with Sai, appearing as if they were chatting about the rainy weather and not something very important. The sooner he could report this, the better, Yamato decided. Surely Tsunade-sama would know what to do.

All he could tell by himself though was that Chiyoko wanted something big. Something powerful, something like taking over Amegakure. If that would be enough.

"What do you say then?" Sai was asking, obviously wrapping up whatever conversation he'd had in the short time Yamato was thinking.

Chiyoko stared inscrutably at the three of them for a moment, appearing to think. "For now, I suppose that will be enough reason," she finally answered, dipping her head. "But I am not foolish or gullible enough to just tell you everything. First, prove to me you're sincere, and then we may talk some more."

"How would we prove ourselves?"

The woman in front of them curved her lips in a wicked way, and suddenly Sakura had a bad feeling burning in the pit of her stomach. "Oh, I know. It's simple actually… You are Konoha shinobi, yes? Then you should know about missions and all that?"

"We're on one right now," Yamato interrupted, and Chiyoko nodded again.

"So my request shouldn't be so outlandish. I just want you to perform a simple mission for me, you see. It doesn't even harm you," she soothed, seeing Sakura's skittish look, which made the pink-haired girl grit her teeth. "A simple scouting mission, to say. I want to know your skills."

Everything in Sakura was screaming to say no, and she saw Yamato tense too from the corner of her eye. Why should they go on a mission for this strange lady who they knew nothing about? They had their _own _mission to carry out! Surely Sai knew that they could survive out there in Amegakure without Chiyoko's help?

"Very well," Sai said, shocking his two teammates again. Sakura stared at his back in horror.

"Listen to me, then," Chiyoko ordered. "I will debrief you…"

A few minutes later, the three found themselves escorted back to their new room—the other was probably still under repair after that man had crushed the door. Sakura clenched her fists, feeling her nails dig into the skin as she tried to murder Sai with her eyes. What was the idiot thinking? Striking a deal with _Chiyoko_? He'd said himself that she was dangerous! And now they were going on some mission which would probably kill them, be a trap, whatever? She was furious.

Sai was aware that neither Sakura nor Yamato were very pleased with him, but they knew enough to hold their tongues while they were still in the presence of one of her men, another silent wraith-like person wrapped in a shroud. Their footsteps echoed loudly along the dreary, dripping corridors for an eternity before halting in front of another plain door. The person gestured them in before closing it. They didn't lock it.

It was the same type of room as the other one had been, but slightly more refurbished with three clean-looking cots instead of two dingy ones. There was a new candle set in the wall and the floors were scrubbed of dirt. The footsteps had barely faded before Sakura set upon dirtying their new room.

Her hand clenched around Sai's throat, painful and choking. He would've thought she was actually choking him if it weren't for the fact that her hand wasn't nearly tight enough for that; it would probably bruise though.

"Explain, Sai," she hissed, and Yamato stood on her other side, looking conflicted. Sai raised an eyebrow.

"How am I supposed to do that, Ugly, when you are choking me to death?"

Her hand tightened once around his throat before letting him drop neatly to the ground. Her expression looked murderous. "Don't call me that!"

"What do you prefer then? Hideous, Repulsive, Gross—?"

"We don't have time for your games, Sai!" she yelled. "We have to go on a mission _you _signed us up for in one hour! A mission to our deaths, too, probably! And why are you talking about capturing Naruto? What does Chiyoko want with him too? Why does everyone want him?" Sakura couldn't stop the last sentence from bubbling out. She bit her lip harshly.

"Chiyoko did say the rain stopped, Sakura, so we won't get caught by Pein," Yamato began quietly, but she waved a hand to cut him off. Sai took the chance to speak.

"I did you a favor. Whether you believe me or not is up to you." Sakura's eyes raged again. "Before you smash the room apart with your monster strength, please listen. I said we would help her _capture _Naruto. Chiyoko wants him dead. We would help her, but there's no guarantees we would succeed, or if Naruto 'accidentally' escaped, per say. She knows this, just as I know that we still have about fifty-fifty chances of getting information. That's why she wants us to go on this mission, to test our loyalties." He took a breath, feeling exhaustion creep up softly behind him. Sai hated when he knew things that other people didn't and was forced to explain.

Sakura tightened her fists again, believing Sai but wishing she didn't, because then that meant that he was actually protecting him—and she didn't need protecting. She was a kunoichi, and the time when Haruno Sakura used to crave protection was long gone. She wasn't some helpless weak whining little girl anymore.

"So let's prepare ourselves, shall we?" Yamato said gently. "It's only a recon mission to get information from some bars or restaurants nearby. Easy work, right?"

"I guess so…" Sakura's voice was slow and a bit unsure of itself. Yamato nodded and turned to the beds, on which their supplies and ponchos laid, folded and neat. Someone must have brought them in here when they were talking with Chiyoko. Sakura followed him, gathering up her backpack.

Surprisingly, it was Sai who voiced a doubt.

"I'm sure Chiyoko means well," he murmured, and the other two halted in their ministrations. Sai's eyes were cast downward. "But both of you know that she is a shrewd woman and a clever one. She will benefit from this, I'm sure, but I just don't know what she'll be benefiting _from._"

"Information?" Sakura suggested, earlier anger hidden for now, only to rise up later. Her eruptive temper had only grew worse over the years, and many said she would turn out like Tsunade.

"No," Yamato answered for Sai, "if Chiyoko really has lived in this village for more than five years, she would know everything about Akatsuki. She probably has more spies than we can count."

Sai agreed. "What's worrying me is that she's keeping something from us. I can tell." He glanced up then, and that was one of the only times Sakura had ever seen doubt reflect back from his black eyes.

"I just hope that whatever Chiyoko is keeping from us…doesn't kill us."

* * *

><p>She didn't really know how or why, but somewhere along the way, Itachi had turned out to be not that scary after all.<p>

Sure, he was no bedtime story prince, but he was at least better than what Sasuke made him out to be. Nakami snorted quietly, hearing the stone rumble back into its place like it had never moved. Why had she even listened to Sasuke? All he did was lie and rage. What made her sick though was that he had a point to his madness, and sometimes, it was impossible not to let that influence her, no matter how hard she tried.

"Thank God they're both gone though," Nakami sighed to herself, ignoring the way nobody answered her words. She should've—was—used to a life of loneliness, when nobody would say 'welcome home' or even 'thank you' to her; when she was stuck in a cave, imprisoned, like Itachi had pointed out kindly more than once. A scowl marred her face briefly before she pushed herself to her feet, for once at a mild loss of what to do.

Nakami supposed she could always watch the outside world again—wouldn't that be fun? More amusing than mixing antidotes again; she was running low on supplies and Sasuke wasn't kind enough to visit for at least another three months. Or she could think about what Itachi had said, and what she had revealed in turn.

Nah, she decided; the outside world was infinitely more interesting than anything their conversation or her cave had to offer. And so Nakami switched her attention back to the outside world.

At first, she was confused to what she was seeing. White and black blinded her, but mostly white, flowing in every direction mindlessly like a snowy river. Nakami blinked and realized it was snow, and the black shapes were trees. A shape jumped at the right of her, and even in the whiteness she could see the blonde hair. Naruto.

Her eyes focused ahead of her, zeroing in on the black shape that almost blended into the trees. No mistaking that hair, it was Sasuke. So these two were in league now? At least what Itachi had told her was true, then. Unbidden, her mind went back to catch the words.

"_Those two are most likely working together now. They both have a common interest, after all."_

_She had been confused. How did he know this, when even she didn't? Again, though, Nakami hadn't exactly been scrutinizing their every move. And so she voiced her confusion._

"_Spies," was all Itachi replied. And then: "Yes, before you ask, everyone else knows too." His sentences were, as always, short and to the point. Nakami smirked sarcastically. _

"_Of course, you don't think before telling them everything?" Her tone had been mocking, but Itachi had merely watched her. _

"_It's better for them to find out from me than find that I have been keeping secrets from them. How would they react to that?" And from those words, Nakami could tell that Itachi still cared, even through everything, about Sasuke—that some sacrifices were worth it._

The two didn't seem to be speaking as the wind tore through their clothing and numbed their skin, as if the cold and snow didn't freeze them. As she watched, they stopped briefly in a clearing that would've been gorgeous in spring but was frozen over with frost right now. They exchanged little words, and even without being there she could see the tension and anger flowing off both. What had made them so angry?

Was it because they both had the same goal? Same fate, no matter how different it was? Fate is not the same as destiny, but both were very similar; destiny was just even crueler than fate, because destiny is set in stone, while if one tried hard enough, willed hard enough, fate could be changed.

Nakami shook her head, hearing her own parting words ring in her head. _"Your destiny is still the same, you know. You will still die." _He had stopped just outside the threshold, and she could almost hear him take a breath.

"_If only by my foolish little brother's hand, isn't that right?"_

And then he'd left, leaving Nakami slightly shell-shocked, wondering if she had heard right. Had _the _Uchiha Itachi just made the tiniest, driest, strangest joke she had ever heard? No. It wasn't possible.

Her eyes closed briefly as Naruto and Sasuke took off into the snowy wilderness again, and knew they were on their way to Pein's city. When she reopened them, Nakami found herself staring into a strange underground world.

Usually, Nakami could control what she wanted to see and when she wanted to see it. Sometimes, this happened. She had no idea where she was, what she was looking for, or even who's perspective this was.

Nakami cast her eyes around, identifying as much as she possibly could...which wasn't much, to say the least. Everywhere she looked, it was gray, gray, some black, and the weirdest smidge of yellow. Who did the color scheme here? They needed some work, never mind that everything seemed to be made of stone.

She found it annoying that she couldn't hear anything—why couldn't whoever had given her this curse/gift just happen to let her _hear _when she saw things too? Nakami felt her brows knit irritably together as she swung her head to the left, watching the yellow smidge in the distance flicker. A candle? That must be it, and there had to be a draft in here to make it waver like that. Nakami's eyes focused on the ceiling and noted the moisture forming into drops along the edge. Underground then.

Something tugged her forward, almost like a magnet. Her eyes opened wide, and that alone usually broke whatever she was seeing, but this time… There was a first for everything, right?

Without pausing, the invisible force dragged Nakami around a corner till she faced two thick-looking iron doors, and before she had a chance to protest, she was dragged right through them. The feeling of going through things was odd, Nakami soon found out. It was like her whole body was tingling while being smashed together.

She didn't like that feeling very much.

Before she knew it, the force had let go of her and she was stumbling to right herself. A shadow threw itself across her face, and she looked up, confused for a moment.

Who was this again? Nakami wondered, before the hair and the posture caught up to her. Haruno Sakura. The fourth part of the doomed Team 7. And after she recognized Sakura, she easily recognized Yamato and Sai. But who was the woman sitting on the chair?

Nakami narrowed her eyes, able to sense without even being there the power that this woman radiated. It was like an aura, self-confident and knowing. Not only the power, but the _ambition… _She would've shivered if she could.

More than that, though, the power she was giving off seemed like a cover, stony and unbreakable. Nakami could sense the grief running underneath, and longed to know what had happened to this stranger woman to make her so sad. What tragic past did she hold? Why did she brush it aside, like so many others? Who was this?

"_Even the Akatsuki don't know about everyone." _Itachi's voice brought her into the past and away from the strange underground room. _"Just as there are some things they should not know about."_

"_But you now about everything, don't you?"_

"_I do now," he replied smoothly. "Thanks to you."_

"_Was it enough?" Nakami had retorted sarcastically. "Enough to satisfy you, even though I could have told you so much more? Is that really all you want to know?" She instantly regretted the words that came from her mouth, knowing that if Itachi really did want to know everything, she had no choice but to agree. After all, she was just a puppet, something with no real value._

_Itachi had watched her carefully, unreadable, before saying, "Do you want to tell me everything?"_

_And she had discovered that maybe yes, she did, just to get this burden of _knowing _off her chest. But Nakami hadn't told him in the end, because Itachi just hadn't been the right person. No one ever was._

"Why?" she groaned, slamming her face into her hands, knowing nothing would really be hurt. That was just another freakish part about her—why _couldn't _she be hurt? She wanted to feel pain, feel something that made her alive! But no, she was even denied that. No crying, no pain, only this heavy weight on her shoulders filled with anguish and bittersweet guilt. The guilt of knowing everything.

Nakami's eyes blinked open, almost wishing they were blurry with tears. Her eyesight remained clear, though, and she sighed despondently, hearing Itachi's tone echo around and around her head. If _he _could be scornful, then his words about being locked up by his little brother would surely have been just that.

Nakami had told him what he wanted, hadn't she? Facts about Akatsuki and some members—but nothing about Madara's fate or destiny, but that particular Uchiha's future was unclear anyway because of how long he'd survived—and Sasuke and Naruto, even some about Konoha's elders. Then Itachi had wanted to know about villages, the future, his plan, which Nakami had no idea why he thought she would know about that. All throughout this, however, he'd maintained that same exact wording, the same purposeful tone, none of the compassion from his childhood left. Not that Nakami knew anything of that peaceful childhood (for a brief time, anyhow), but Sasuke's memories had been enough to know that Itachi had once been a storybook older brother.

And in return for her information, hadn't Itachi told her what she wanted to know? How he knew about her, who he was, what he'd done; which hadn't actually been the best of her ideas. Itachi was merciless even when giving out facts, and it made her a little sick to her imaginary stomach hearing about all the ones he'd killed. The part of massacring the Uchiha Clan had been particularly gruesome, though he _had _included Madara's part in it.

What disturbed Nakami was probably how he knew about her. It was relatively simple, in fact, and it almost made her laugh to realize that the chance that he'd found her was one in a thousand. Itachi always had been extremely lucky, hadn't he?

"_How did you know about me?" she asked, getting straight to the point. He'd stared back, unperturbed by the fallacious tone creeping into her voice._

"_Ravens."_

_Nakami wanted to curse the Uchiha and their way of speaking in riddles—or rather, the most direct way possible—but she knew she was just as bad. "What do you mean, ravens?"_

"_They're my spies. And sometimes, I send them to watch Sasuke." Nakami had opened her mouth at 'spies' but after Itachi had so openly admitted to the last sentence, she shut it again. "I just happened to catch him once coming out of here, and further observation showed Sasuke talking quite curiously to himself."_

Probably ranting about me again, _she thought. Sasuke did that a lot back then. "But how did you know about my cur—gift?" _

"_Curse, you say," he corrected. "It is a curse, no doubt. The gifted are the cursed among the ninja world." Nakami had a feeling that Itachi knew personally what he was talking about. _

"_My curse?"_

"_I am afraid I cannot tell you absolutely everything. Just know it has to do with this cave, its walls, Sasuke, you, and some others I'd prefer to stay unnamed, as they are no use to the living now." Meaning they were dead. _

_Nakami was almost afraid to ask more, so she didn't._

But now, look where Itachi's words had gotten her. She was intimidated by her own walls, her own _cave_! As if he'd planted spies in the rock or something. What if he had though? Nakami quickly shut off that particular train of thought, preferring to focus back on the present and its problems. Even if she was stuck in the shadows, that didn't mean she couldn't nudge others in her own way; in fact, she could probably do more—in an analytical manner.

Nakami closed her eyes for the final time, feeling as tired as she could get. The trance-state was approaching, she could feel it, and Nakami would gladly give up this time to the darkness. Too many things had erupted lately, and it was giving her brain an imaginary headache. Too many decisions, too much new alliances, too many twists of fate and destiny twining together…

Nakami figured that if she had waited this long to finally get into the action, she could wait a little longer.

And the world could wait with her.

* * *

><p>The bar was crowded and hot with the warmth of many bodies, all trying to escape the frigid air that wouldn't even let up its cold grip down in Amegakure. Most were men, understandably, seeing how it was the men who tended to drink more. The all-women bartenders were just a plus.<p>

They paid no attention to their surroundings, ninjas or not. Maybe it came from being in their home environment, or being drunk, or even just being careless. Whatever the reason, the mistake probably taught the men to never let down their guard like that again, even when they were at home. The consequences could be deadly, as proved later that night, and manipulating drunks for information was an easy task for an experienced ninja.

But let's backtrack a bit, shall we?

This particular bar was well-frequented by many patrons, be it rich or poor. It was also rumored that it was a whorehouse in disguise, but the women running the bar were high-class and refused to give out information about the supposed whorehouse unless you too were high-class.

Business for this bar usually started early in the afternoon, as soon as civilians could get off work and ninjas off duty. What better way than to forget about that cheating wife or those troublesome kids or your ignorant boss than to drown it in liquor? But the pace really picked up after dinnertime, and people flooded the not-particularly-big bar. It was havoc just trying to get from one end of the room to another, and bar fights were not unlikely.

This winter evening was like any other. In fact, it probably brought in even more customers because of their special winter deal—two bottles for the price of one! And because nobody particularly cared about their surroundings, two more shinobi were able to slip in unnoticed.

Servers slinked over to help them the moment they sat down in separate corners, but both waved them away. And after that, they were invisible, even despite the strangely tangled, flyaway blonde hair that shone like a beacon in the room of one stranger or the brooding dark looks and pale skin of the other. No, nobody approached them, and that was just fine by the two shinobi.

However, if one was watching, they noticed that somewhere around ten o'clock in the evening, when all the customers were more or less drunk, one of the strangers stood up and began mingling. Almost immediately after, the other shinobi did too. Neither looked at each other, making it appear like they didn't even know one another.

The blonde wasn't energetic, to say, but definitely more open than the dark-haired ninja. He laughed more and gestured widely even when his eyes were harder than flint, letting the customers of the bar accept him as just another well-meaning stranger. Their mistake.

His questionable companion seemed to hide in the shadows even when he was talking with others, unnoticeable and preferring to stay that way. He talked to the more shady-looking ones inhabiting the bar, the ones that looked dangerous and were dangerous. The unfamiliar ninja didn't seem intimidated in the slightest.

Just by watching, someone could tell that these weren't ordinary shinobi—they were trained, assassins, moving with the deadly precision that comes with tracking your enemy. Just by listening to them, though, was like listening to an ordinary conversation between friends. Perhaps it was the drunks to blame that let information fall so easily from their mouths (what information they knew, that was). Or maybe it was just the skill level of the shinobi themselves.

The clock hit two, and gradually the bar began thinning out. It was still crowded, for sure, but there weren't people standing and clogging the paths between the tables anymore. No line snaked through the doors, and most people were settling down to drink their last before leaving. In the two strangers' cases, settling down to wring the last information they could before finally meeting at yet another table in the shadows.

Naruto's hand itched, wanting to rub his nose and rid himself the smell of the intoxicated and alcohol. The Kyuubi was agreeing inside of him, and voicing complaints that never seemed to stop about how disgusting humans were, why they drank this stuff, didn't they know it would just kill them quicker? Not that the fox cared, of course, he assured Naruto.

He forced himself to sit down near another drunk-looking young man, foolish and probably eager to prove himself. "Is that good?" Naruto asked, nodding to the drink the man held. Too inebriated to notice or care who was talking to him, the young man nodded foolishly and smiled. "Then let's get you another one, huh?" Naruto waved a server over.

Once the new drink arrived and the man was once again satisfied, Naruto leaned his head on his hand and began his interrogation. He asked the man about the leader of the village, the 'Angel' mentioned so many times, the towers, the rain…everything he could think of. The man never once grew suspicious, but he didn't give any new answers either. Naruto left, unsatisfied once again.

After he'd gone through the last hideously drunk person, he met with Sasuke, who looked as unfazed and collected as ever, besides that glint of madness—or something—in his eyes that had remained there ever since that bloody massacred dawn.

"These people are all idiots," Naruto said, just to say something. The Kyuubi scoffed at him before laughing deliriously.

"Information?" was his reply, curt as ever. Of course, Sasuke would only ever say what needed to be said, what was necessary to get his point across.

Naruto let his eyes slant sideways, investigating the rest of the remaining customers in the dim lighting. Even the servers were starting to seem tired, and there was noticeably less people stumbling in. "They're all saying the same things. Pein is the leader, which we know, and Konan is probably that 'Angel' they're all talking about. Lady Angel or something, I forget. They insist the two are their saviors." He resisted the urge to make a face. "And then there are the towers. And the rain."

"The rain is Pein's doing," Sasuke said lowly, his own eyes also flickering around their environment. Even if he didn't show it, his body was tense. He didn't like bars. "At least it wasn't raining when we arrived."

"That's true." Naruto frowned, wondering exactly why it hadn't been. If what the people were saying was right, the rain protected them, and should have told Pein about the intruders. So why wasn't it raining? Had the Akatsuki left town? "Did you learn anything else?"

Naruto would have been prepared for almost anything, be it that the people were actually zombies or killing machines, or even that Madara had lowered himself to mix among civilians. But not: "The dead have gone missing." He didn't know why, but that struck a chord inside him.

"What do you mean, the dead?" he asked, a bit more sharply than he intended. Sasuke's eyes held contempt along with that madness, showing Naruto that he had heard it.

"It's not only the dead. People have gone missing too, and their bodies were never found." The Kyuubi absolutely roared at this inside Naruto's head, giving him the usual headache that accompanied the annoying laughter. What was wrong with the demon today? It was acting almost like it _knew _something the other two didn't… "Someone told me that their Angel used to be taking these corpses, but not anymore. Now...they're just disappearing on their own."

Naruto didn't know why, but he didn't feel queasy at this thought. _So why does hearing that the dead have gone missing make me feel strange but not that people are disappearing? Maybe because I make people disappear myself… _He focused his thoughts along their information-gathering path again.

"This place wasn't successful then," Naruto murmured, watching another group of drunk looking chunins stumble away. Only little tables of ones and twos remained, he noticed, and most looked like they were passed out then and there. "We didn't find out where Pein and the rest of the Akatsuki were."

"They're in a tower."

"I know that," Naruto snapped, clenching his hand. The anger that even now thrummed between them and the intense traveling of the last few days—not to mention the weather—had left his nerves frayed and short. Sasuke didn't help matters, with his obnoxiously cool expression and the fact that nothing seemed to deter him. "Which tower then?" He made sure his tone was condescending and challenging, something Sasuke would never have backed down from.

Sasuke looked away.

Naruto blinked, unsure if he should be offended or, well, offended. His eyes darkened in anger but before he could do something, the Kyuubi rumbled inside his head, for once making sense.

_**Look where he's looking. **_And Naruto did.

Fate and destiny had caught up to them both, it seemed. And now the evil duo had just added another pawn to their game for the conquest of the king.

The doors brushed open, letting in the chilly night air. The first thing Naruto saw was a boot, black and familiar with heels that no man would wear. Then a leg, followed by clothes he had just seen not long ago. And finally, that pink unmistakable hair. Behind Sakura entered Sai, and then Yamato. Naruto's stomach tightened and he realized he'd looked away. Quietly, he thanked his reflexes for not continuing to stare before beginning to berate himself.

"Why didn't we put on a henge?" he hissed. Sasuke didn't answer, facing ahead but eyes glancing towards the edge of his vision. Naruto drew in a shuddering breath, not knowing what he should feel: sorrow, even more fury, a clenching of his heart… what? Because all he felt now was _nothing_. Where had those set-in-stone right and wrongs gone?

The two looked down at the table, and Naruto could see Sasuke's hand clenching ever so slightly, showing that he was tense too. Maybe not nervous, but at least unsure of what to do. Normally it would've made Naruto triumphant to see the great Uchiha Sasuke hesitating, but in this case it didn't matter because Naruto had no idea what to do either.

"We need to leave," Sasuke muttered at last, after what seemed like an eternity; in reality, it was not even a minute.

"How?" Naruto hissed back, still staring at the scratched top of the sticky table. Just this once, he'd put aside that burning ache inside of him, urging him to find vengeance on _anyone _who'd caused him pain. It looked like the Kyuubi had had more influence on him than he'd originally thought.

Sasuke was quiet for a beat before saying lowly, "There's a corridor. It's dark and probably unused."

Naruto understood immediately: they could escape from there, the hallway behind him. Instinctively, his eyes flickered up to try and pinpoint Sakura's location. For a brief second, he couldn't find her, and felt a hollow echo of panic rising up in his chest. Had she spotted them?

No, thankfully. His questing eyes found their prize in another dark corner, opposite of theirs. All three heads—brown, pink, and black—were pressed together, probably whispering about battle plans. Naruto wished his hearing was better than it was now, even though it was already 'enhanced', as the Kyuubi liked to call it. Were they here to get information too? About whom, then? Himself?

_**If they're getting information from anyone, it's Pein, idiot. That's why they're in Amegakure, after all, **_the Kyuubi said in what could only be called a drawl (if demons could drawl), slow and clear. _**Isn't that why **_**you're **_**here?**_

_I know that. _Naruto didn't bother talking to the Kyuubi beyond that sentence, focusing instead on their immediate escape. And escape they must, because to be found by Sakura… he didn't know what would happen, and that was the terrifying part.

"They're occupied. We can escape now," Naruto muttered, but like his words had triggered them, the trio broke apart and stood simultaneously before beginning to search the remaining occupants of the room for information. Too intoxicated to realize that another interview was happening, the drunken customers slurred their answers happily.

To his curiosity, Naruto noticed that all three of their eyes were heavily laden with bags, like they'd been working all night. Perhaps they had; going from bar to bar to get as much info as they could like Sasuke and Naruto. Surely Yamato was smarter than that, though? He would have put on a henge, wouldn't he?

His eyes followed their seemingly jerky, practiced movements, words bubbling off their tongues. Naruto got so distracted Sasuke had to hit the table to get his attention, looking more annoyed than he had all night.

"What?"

"We need to leave soon. They're coming over here."

Naruto glanced back over to Sai, bent over in discussion with a young man barely out of his teens. He did seem closer than before. "How do you plan on doing that?"

"Distraction," Sasuke replied smoothly. "You make it. We'll leave."

_Thanks, _Naruto grumbled sarcastically in his head, unwilling to say it out loud. Already the feelings of excitement were bubbling up along with the fox's bloodthirstiness; it was like Naruto could never get enough of this delicious concoction.

He summoned two shadow clones effortlessly, managing to dispel the loud puff of smoke before they arrived. Naruto sent them outside as the clones crept in the shadows, unseen and unheard. Then he made them go around to the front of the bar and start a large fight.

Sasuke had glanced sourly at him after he heard the yelling and fighting, as if asking, _That's your plan?_

_You asked me to do it, _Naruto had shot back, all in his head of course. He would never stoop so low as to actually _say _that. _I'm not the strategy one and you know it. _

Sakura and Sai were staring toward the entrance, Yamato already at the door. The customers, nearly passed out on the tables, didn't move. Sasuke was already up and beginning to slink in the shadows, Naruto following. This was where they were supposed to escape, where they were supposed to slip into the night and freedom.

Somehow, this was where it all went wrong.

They were so close Naruto could taste it, cool air only a teasing breath away. The door was even in sight at the end of the hallway. And then—his clones disappeared with a pop, and yelling erupted in the main area of the bar. Naruto shoved Sasuke, wanting to get out the door, and both of them broke into a run.

It was too late.

Someone skidded into the light from the end of the hallway and Naruto heard the whistling of a kunai in the air. He ducked to one side, Sasuke leaning to the other. The weapon imbedded itself onto the door in front of them, quivering, a clear warning.

Naruto didn't know what possessed him to turn his head, but something did…and then he was trapped in that strange green gaze, foreign and burning, filled with something eerily like guilt. But what could Sakura be guilty of? His head turned to Sai's eyes, and Yamato's. The same strange guilt was reflected.

Sakura took a step forward, her guilty look transforming into something like horrified. "N-Naruto…? Sasuke…kun…? What are you two doing….here?" She sounded as if she didn't believe they were here; as if she wished with all her heart they _weren't _here.

Naruto didn't have a chance to answer when he felt the door behind them open. For an instant, he thought Sasuke had ditched him, but a quick glance to his side showed that the Uchiha was still there. He risked a glance behind him, and couldn't help his eyes opening wide.

It was like a silent army had poured itself into the alleyway behind the bar, with a fierce-looking woman at the front with hard amber eyes. That many ninjas would be hard to beat even for the two of them.

Naruto swung back toward Sakura, who seemed to mouth something like 'I'm sorry'. A voice cut the heavy air, and without turning Naruto knew it was from that woman at the front of her army.

"Uzumaki Naruto. I've been searching for you…and Uchiha Sasuke. It looks like Lady Luck is on my side today." And then, everything exploded, not giving him another second to try and understand the mess he'd gotten into.

As he fought instinctively, arm to arm and leg to leg and weapon to weapon, Naruto couldn't help feeling that somewhere nearby, fate and destiny were having an uproarious laugh about him.

Just a feeling.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of this chapter! Hope you liked, review, alert, fave if you want, share your thoughts whether they be good or bad… It's always appreciated! :) See everyone on Thursday! (and aren't you glad I didn't leave it on a cliffhanger this time? Sorta?)<strong>

**TBC!**

**P.S. Thank you the muffin lord, I'm glad you approve! :) And now, if you just read that P.S., I'd like to thank you for reading…again… Not really sure where to end this a/n, so bye!**


	27. Chapter Twenty Five

**A/N: I'm sorry I'm late! Very, deeply sorry, I promise. But… we were experiencing TECHINCAL DIFFICULTIES, ahem, ahem. You can read my story below or just skip to the actual chapter part, whichever suits you.**

**Well, it has been an enlightening week for me. I suppose. I have come to realize just how much I rely on Internet, but hey, it's addicting! Short story: my Internet broke down. *sob* it was soooo boooring! Seriously. I would just mope around my house, and mope some more… jk. I actually did stuff, like write this and play Sims xD And then it got fixed! On Wednesday! Good, right? So why is it late? BECAUSE IT BROKE DOWN AGAIN! *rages***

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I would use all my money to make an indestructible, never-breaking-down Internet router thing. Or I would own the Internet. But since that isn't happening…I'll stick to owning Dark Angel.<strong>

**Dark Angel: Chapter Twenty-Five**

_For some life lasts a short while, but the memories it holds last forever. _–Laura Swenson

_I dreamed a thousand new paths… I woke and walked my old one. _–Chinese proverb

Dream.

Something one wishes to have, something one does, a hope that never is fulfilled. Isn't that what a dream was? Vague, indescribable, longing, a goal… Something to sink into and to forget life in, to submerge yourself in.

Sakura wished desperately that she was in a dream. That everything around her, the people and the fighting, was all a lie, a lie her subconsciousness was telling herself. Why was it so cruel as to bring up Naruto now, of all times? And Sasuke-kun too? Was her mind trying to tell her something? But no, she knew it wasn't lying, just as she knew that the widening indigo eyes could have belonged to no one but Naruto, even though they were closed over and unreadable; just as she knew that those impassive features on the other man's face was Sasuke and only Sasuke, the man who had caused so much pain.

In the end, though, so had Naruto.

She couldn't pretend anymore that this was all a mirage, and the guilt that had been bombarding her set back in, plaguing her as she pushed against the crowd of ninjas that had seemingly come from nowhere. When had Chiyoko gotten this all set up? Had she known about Naruto and Sasuke coming somehow? And mostly, why was she after Naruto? That particular unanswered question burned her mind.

Twin blurs danced among the crowd, slicing open this ninja's arm or kicking that ninja's stomach. There was no doubt that over the years, Sasuke and Naruto had improved as much as any of the Konoha 10 had. But it wasn't enough: the tide of shinobi flooding in never seemed to stop.

Chiyoko stood in the center of it all. Sakura could see her and the smug grin on her face, satisfaction written all over it like the cat who has swallowed the canary. It made her want to punch it off that pristine face, and she started moving through the crowd with exactly that intention.

Sai somehow had gotten there ahead of her, she realized dimly, still struggling against the living tide. Even if she wasn't _actually _in a dream, moving made her feel like it; slow, dazed, the walk of a sleepwalker. The movements of the shocked.

His black head dipped near her brown one, and Sai seemed to be conversing urgently with her. Sakura stopped attempting to walk and stared vaguely across at the two. She could feel the shock beginning to lift its blanket from her limbs, and a part of her mind clutched at the security the shock had provided. Why couldn't this all be a dream?

Chiyoko lifted her head then and stared directly into Sakura's eyes, her amber ones as piercing as ever. Her grin had dropped from her lips.

Sai vanished among the crowd only to appear by Yamato's side. Their captain, too, wasn't moving a muscle; only, he didn't seem shocked but merely decided.

Ninjas continued swirling around her, choking her. Sakura finally broke her gaze from Chiyoko's, searching for Naruto and Sasuke. The two were wide apart, and she had to choke back a dry laugh. Didn't the two know that teamwork was the key to success? If they fought like they were fighting now, no matter how powerful they were, in the end they would fall…separately.

But work together, and you can take down anything or anyone.

Sakura shook her head, feeling hotness prickle at the back of her eyes. She blinked, refusing to cry.

So in the end, even though Sasuke-kun and Naruto had formed a somewhat uneasy alliance, they still couldn't work together. There was just too much between them, she supposed; too much hatred, too much anger, too much betrayal. You can't clear a half-decade's worth of pain in a week.

And so they fell, as she had predicted. Sakura couldn't do anything but watch, because she wouldn't lift a finger against the two people that had been most precious to her—but left—and she couldn't fight against Chiyoko's shinobi.

They fell. She did too, into an endless abyss that equaled despair and helplessness. Uselessness.

_Why couldn't this have all been a dream?_

_One I would wake soon from?_

* * *

><p>"I hear your mission was successful, was it not?" Neji was asking Hinata quietly. His cousin nodded, glancing up to see Kiba sneak-feeding Akamaru some meat.<p>

"Yes, we encountered no difficulties." She hesitated a bit, wondering if she should reveal what they had learned about the destroyed village. Kiba solved that problem for her, leaning in and grinning widely, recounting the tale with the glory of a hero, even though their story fit better in a horror genre.

The rest of the Konoha 10 assembled were also conversing among themselves. In the end, Chouji had won and they had gone to Barbe-Q to celebrate once more. But it wasn't much of a celebration, Shikamaru had to admit, because the whole atmosphere was dampened by the fact that Sakura's team was missing.

It had been a day since they'd returned to Konoha and had talked to Tsunade. Neji's team and Shino's team had returned not long before they had, and both had news to share, though Shino's was much more exciting. Shikamaru was still puzzling over why Naruto—or Sasuke—had bothered to kill half of a village, so small it wasn't worth placing on the map. Maybe because the men had been a minor threat? But then that posed the question, who had actually _killed _them? Naruto? Sasuke? Or…both?

The last he didn't want to consider, if only because Sasuke was unstable and untrusted. He hadn't been popular among the boys in the Academy, except to aspire up to. Other than that, the Uchiha had been a spoilsport, only focusing on improving and nothing else.

But Sasuke had improved, and he was surely a dangerous shinobi. When one juxtaposed the two, they were almost equal in talent. If one combined the two, with the Kyuubi's thirst for blood, cunningness, anger, and Sasuke's strategy, moves, power, they could form an unbeatable team.

If the Konoha 10 hadn't even been able to defeat Naruto, working together, how could they possibly defeat two of them?

The slightly bright side to the equation was that Naruto didn't want to hurt them... right? Or would Sasuke change his mind? Maybe Naruto had already changed his mind. Maybe they were coming to Konoha to attack right now. Who knows what had gone through their former friend's mind after they attacked him, fought him?

Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his temple. Ino chattered away beside him, eyes deceptively bright, while Chouji swallowed another pork chop. He wished everything was perfect—that Sakura's team wasn't taking an abnormally long time, that Naruto had never left, Pein never attacked, Akatsuki didn't exist. He wished for a perfect world.

But if there was a perfect world, how terribly boring that would be. Even Shikamaru had to admit that.

Tenten smiled softly as she watched Shikamaru deep in thought, brows furrowed. She always felt like an older sister to the younger boys, like Kiba and Chouji, but strangely enough she felt like good friends to the younger girls. Oh well. Tenten glanced over to see Lee jump up, nearly knocking over the table in the process. Neji took the time to glare, but Lee just ran off inexplicably and without explanation.

"I'll go after him," she told the rest of the company, who nodded absent-mindedly and continued their conversations.

Tenten had to hurry to catch up with Lee, who for some strange reason was heading into another hallway that contained more tables. "Lee!" she called, watching her teammate stop and grin widely.

"Tenten! Have you come to join me on my youthful expedition—?"

"Please, Lee, save it," Tenten sighed good-humoredly. "Why'd you run off all of a sudden?"

"Ah, only because I saw Gai-sensei!" Lee did a thumbs-up. "I wanted to comment how on how brilliant our sensei was during our last mission, and I figured now was the perfect time to do it!"

Tenten brightened up. "Oh, are the senseis meeting for dinner too?" Then their present-day situation struck her like falling boulders, and her bright brown eyes dimmed. "Oh, but there's only Gai and Kurenai now…"

Lee had started down the hallway again, and Tenten caught up. They cleared a corner to see Gai, Kurenai, a teacher with round glasses—Ebisu? Was that his name?—Anko, and some of the other chunin that helped around the village, along with some jounin senseis she didn't know. It looked like more than just a Konoha 10 sensei dinner, Tenten thought. Was it some holiday?

"Gai-sensei! I thought I saw you here!" Lee exclaimed. His teacher jumped up upon seeing his star pupil. "What brings you and so many others here to celebrate?"

"Ah," their sensei said in a deep voice. He struck a pose briefly, to Tenten's horror. "It is our dear Kurenai-san's child's birthday! We have all come to celebrate." Gai's voice was as exuberant as ever, but Tenten couldn't help feeling that there was something else. Something more to this gathering. If it was only Akane's birthday, Anko wouldn't be here; nor Ebisu or Genma or Raidou. What was today? Tenten racked her brain.

Lee was protesting for her. "That cannot be it, Gai-sensei! I'm sure of it, there's another reason you are here. Though," he addressed Kurenai, "I'm sure Akane is beautiful; tell her happy fifth birthday for me!" Kurenai nodded, but Lee was already distracted by Gai.

"You are right, Lee," Gai sighed, placing his hands on Lee's shoulder. His eyes were suddenly much sadder, and that scared Tenten. She glanced around the packed room, and to her surprise and slight despair, all of the assembled ninjas' eyes were sad. Wistful. What was today?

"Today," Gai continued, almost like he'd heard her thoughts, "is Kakashi's anniversary."

Tenten blinked, feeling something twist in her heart. How could she have forgotten?.!

Lee was obviously feeling the same, as tears began gathering in his eyes. It was one of _those days _again. "G-Gai sensei, I'm so sorry! Everyone, I'm so sorry!" He bowed. Tenten ducked her head before hurrying out of the room, Lee at her heels.

Tenten knew why she'd forgotten. Today wasn't the exact date Pein attacked the village, but it was close enough; enough to know that many others had also died on this day. That day was so painful she would rather choose to forget than remember, and the only reason they had commemorated this day before was because of Sakura. But Sakura wasn't here, and nobody knew if she was even okay. Was this how Team 7 would end up, at last? Forgotten, broken apart, lost?

"Should we tell the others, Tenten?" Lee was asking.

"I—yes," Tenten said firmly, blinking away the ache. "They deserve to know. _Kakashi _deserves to be remembered, along with everyone else who died."

Lee nodded. "Good words!"

Shino glanced up when he heard footsteps approaching. He elbowed Kiba, who glared reproachfully before nodding. "Yeah, I hear them. I wonder where Lee went?" Akamaru licked his hand, still under the table, asking for more.

"We're back!" Tenten's voice was cheerful as she ducked back into the room with Lee, but both of their eyes seemed a little sad.

"What's wrong?" Neji was the first to ask. That got the rest of the room's attention, and Tenten fidgeted. Lee had no such problems.

In a solemn voice, he announced, "Today is Kakashi-san's anniversary, along with so many others. We too should celebrate their loss to protect our village!" Normally, someone at the table would've added '_and Naruto'_, but after just being reminded of that fact, nobody did. Because Naruto might have been their friend, the glue that kept them all together, and the deaths on that day might have been for his sake…

The thought that ran through their minds now was this: _Had it really been worth it? _

Ino proposed a toast, and everyone agreed, drinking quietly. The almost petty atmosphere the party had contained before seemed weak and distant now, and the gathering quickly disbanded after Lee's announcement. Neji escorted Hinata home while Lee bounced beside both of them, Tenten lingering behind all three. Kiba and Akamaru waved to the rest, going a different way, while Chouji and Shino too departed. Ino blinked at the empty road, suddenly feeling lonely.

"Come on, let's go home," Shikamaru sighed from beside her, staring at the starry sky. "Why can't the night have clouds too?"

She instantly brightened at her lazy friend's silly words. "There _are _clouds at night, dummy. Just not today! And the stars are pretty anyway." Ino stared at the stars, wondering if Sakura was seeing the same thing. Probably not. "Hey, Shikamaru?" she asked softly.

"Huh?"

"Do you know where Sakura is right now? Where her team is?"

"I think they went on a recon mission," Shikamaru answered, closing his eyes and walking forward fearlessly. "Somewhere to the west."

"Oh." Ino grew quiet again. They were approaching her house when she whispered, "Do you think she's okay?" When Shikamaru didn't answer, she rushed on. "I mean, everyone else is back, but … maybe they went somewhere farther away. She might be on her way back right now! Nothing went wrong with the m-mission, right? Sakura's strong, she learned from Tsunade. She couldn't d—"

Shikamaru sighed, but his eyes were kind. "I'm sure she's fine, Ino. Sakura is strong and she's more capable than we think. She'll be fine," he repeated. "So stop worrying."

Ino felt strangely reassured by her teammate's words, and she breathed out silently before rolling her eyes. "Ha, me worried over Billboard-Brow? Who are you kidding? If she doesn't come back, I'll bring her back from the dead just to punch her! Sakura can't leave me." She placed her hands on her hips, laughing. "Anyway, see you, Shikamaru!"

She ran up the steps to the shop before pausing, glancing back once. "Thanks" floated back to Shikamaru on a soft breeze, and he turned without answering. Ino's words rang in his mind.

_Sakura can't leave me._

Despite what she'd said, Shikamaru knew that Ino was still worried. Call it intuition, or just what he'd picked up from spending more than half a decade with her, but Ino was still anxious. The sooner Sakura came back, the better they'd all be, he decided.

Satisfied, Shikamaru stared at the sky again, the moon shining coldly. Something nagged at his conscience though—that sentence bothered him for some reason: _Sakura can't leave me._

It was only when he got back to his house that he realized what it had reminded him of… Naruto. Always declaring Sasuke would come back, bring Sasuke back, just remaining hopeful overall. And then the Konoha 10 had come to take Naruto for granted. _He can't leave us. We need him. He needs us. He needs _us.

Shikamaru gave a short laugh. That taught them to trust people—in the end, it was Naruto who had left them.

In the end, it was them who needed Naruto, not the other way around.

* * *

><p>Chaos reigned in the previously quiet bar in a matter of seconds.<p>

Naruto fought like a demon; there was no other way to describe it. But even though he fought like the dead were on his heels, he couldn't beat the endless flow of ninja. Enemies fell before his touch only to be replaced by more—and that was the very root of the problem: they never ran out!

He slashed a kunai across one ninja's stomach before turning abruptly and plunging the same kunai into another ninja's arm. The ninja let out a short scream, dropping his sword and vanishing into the flow. Naruto immediately took out another kunai to defend himself with.

A glance across the endless crowd of people showed Sasuke struggling with similar problems. Sakura stood not far away, seemingly transfixed by the woman that had spoken originally. The original occupants, drunk as they had been, were gone; probably spooked by the battle that had occurred out of nowhere.

Naruto paid for his brief lack of attention. Someone's fist slammed into his stomach, and caught unawares, he was thrown to the ground. He twisted quickly, managing to flip it so that his attacker was under him before spinning. Taijutsu had never been his strong point, Naruto remembered forlornly. Well, neither had ninjutsu and obviously not genjutsu, but both had improved somewhat. Taijutsu for Naruto just consisted of punches and kicks; simple hand-to-hand combat.

_I wish I could use jutsus, _he told the Kyuubi, starting to feel winded. _One Rasengan could put this whole platoon out of commission._

_**And at what cost? **_As always, the demon had denounced whatever plan Naruto had somewhat come up with. _**You're going to lose, Naruto.**_

_Thanks for the vote of confidence, _Naruto replied, but he was gritting his teeth on the outside. He knew he was going to lose. The numbers never seemed to stop, and Naruto was starting to grow tired. More and more shinobi were actually landing hits on him because in the confined space, he could hardly move with the speed and agility he wanted to. He felt like he was going to suffocate.

Still, Naruto gave all he had. Sometimes, while he was fighting, he could see Sasuke dart in with his katana; other times, he saw Sakura and Yamato and Sai seeming to converse seriously. The images passed quickly as he defended himself.

Yet another ninja was replaced as Naruto reached for his last kunai. Cursing, he felt a strange, desperate frustration well up inside him, something he hadn't felt for a long time. It seemed life-or-death situations could bring out even the most suppressed emotions.

_**You're wrong.**_

_What? _he snapped, trying to fend off multiple attackers at once with one kunai. It didn't work very well and Naruto ended up with a couple more scratches to show his effort.

_**It isn't a life-or-death situation. They aren't even fighting seriously… they don't want to kill you.**_

Naruto narrowed his eyes, realizing the Kyuubi was right. The ninjas never aimed for his vital points, like the neck or chest. No, just the arms and legs to immobilize him. _Do they want to capture me?_

_**Seems like it. **_The demon chuckled. _**I was right after all…**_

_What do you mean? _Naruto growled, on the outside and inside. With a sudden flare of reddish chakra, he momentarily cleared a ninja-free circle around him. The fox just laughed again and refused to answer, like all night.

Nobody could say Naruto didn't try his hardest, because he damn well did. Even when that last kunai vanished into someone's throat (Naruto had no qualms about killing) and he was forced to resort to simple combat, he still tried—the thing he had been known for in Konoha, the thing he still refused to let go. His stubbornness.

But even the bravest fall, the immortal die, and the strongest heroes vanquished. No one is indestructible, not even a demon. Everyone has their flaws.

Naruto finally collapsed, simply overwhelmed. His stamina couldn't last any longer, even with the Kyuubi's help; at least, to his satisfaction, the seemingly endless ninja army had diminished by a lot. Only a hundred strong remained. Through blurry eyes, he saw bodies littering the ground and painting the floor red, and Naruto gave a weak laugh. This would be hard to clean up later, but that thought too was washed away by the oncoming blackness. Was he going to black out? Naruto hadn't done that for years…

With one last effort, even as he felt chains tightening around his hands—not that they would really be that hard to break, with the Kyuubi's chakra reinforcing his—Naruto lifted his head, straining to see what had happened to Sasuke. Sakura. His old life.

Yamato and Sai had vanished, along with that woman. Most of the ninjas left were quickly picking up injured comrades, dead bodies, and toting them out the door. Where was Sasuke? Naruto's eyes searched before finally making out two shinobi half-carrying (but mostly tugging along) a resisting Uchiha, eyes still defiant and mad but no longer red. In order to have survived this long, Naruto realized vaguely, he must have had to use the curse mark.

The world spun and he was disrupted from his daydreaming as he was hauled to his feet. Naruto tugged weakly on his bonds, waiting for the strength to return to his muscles. The iron bit into his skin, and the Kyuubi growled inside his head.

_**I want to shred this people. How dare she chain us! **_

_Then do something, _Naruto urged, _lend me your strength. Let us be strong. _

Usually, promises like these would have swayed the Nine-tails. This time, however, he resisted. _**No. **_

_No?_

_**We must wait, **_the fox said with a strange conviction. _**Wait till we see her lair. Then we can destroy it from inside to outside. Also, you're too weak to support yourself right now. Rest first. **_He sounded condescending as ever.

Naruto though was too tired to bother responding, and he glared at one of his captors before dropping his head. A voice suddenly reached his ears, making him glance up sharply at the strange words. "Hurry! Rain is starting to fall!" Rain… there was something about rain, wasn't there? It was… special rain.

Sure enough, his two captors tugged on their own chain and he was jerked forward into the lightening night. Pale gray streaked the thick clouds near the east—or what he assumed was the east—and a few hesitant drops of rain began falling onto Naruto's face. He blinked, feeling one catch on his eyelashes and drip down his cheek. Tears, the sign of weakness.

He was hurried along the road. No civilians were out at this hour, and the Amegakure ninjas were strangely absent. Naruto kept track of his surroundings even though his head was starting to feel like clouds; by the time they got to an empty plaza with a strange hole in the center, his head felt light and dizzy. He barely registered being helped down the hole, and then … everything simply grew dark. Naruto didn't remember much after that, except one strangely bright thing.

When he'd glanced up to see the sky for a final time, lightening and crying tears of rain, Naruto had glimpsed a last figure—pink and not at all belonging to the normally blue sky. Sakura?

If it had really been her, if he hadn't been hallucinating… why did she now appear so despondent? Like the whole world had crumbled away from her feet, leaving her falling into the unknown?

Then Naruto had succumbed to his weakness, the warm yet terrifying darkness, and that sliver of sky disappeared.

When he could see it again, he didn't know, but Naruto could feel that it would be a long time till he could see the sky once more.

Hours passed. Minutes ticked by, seconds fluttered on, perhaps even days slowly trickled away. Naruto couldn't tell. He was still submerged in that darkness, listening to the words of the Kyuubi whispering into his ears, memorizing plans and possible escapes. Because the darkness, for Naruto, was also a time to plan as well as a time to recuperate.

But slowly and surely, he woke. The demon's words grew fainter and the oppression began to lift. Naruto's hearing returned first.

"…wake, do you think?"

"…sleeping for many days already…"

"Fought like a devil, did you see—"

"…is it really safe…"

"—Chiyoko know what to do with him…?"

"Shut up! We're supposed to be guarding…"

The voices faded in and out in his ears while his mind filed away everything he could hear. Asleep for many days? How long had he been out? The next sense to return to him answered that question.

The material was warm but scratchy under his fingertips. Something had also been thrown over him, and Naruto could sense straps running across his chest, holding him down. His limbs felt like they were weighted with stones, a sign that he'd been asleep for some period of time. Even though they were heavy, though, he could feel the energy coursing through them; Naruto had recovered completely, and breaking these straps would be an easy task.

_**Wait, **_the Nine-tails whispered, slinking back into his cage. Red eyes appeared in Naruto's mind for a brief second before fading away, half-closing with exhaustion—or was it smugness? _**Just wait… **_His voice dulled to an echo and Naruto paid no more attention to his demon.

Taste and smell returned simultaneously, as both are linked and very much alike. Naruto was careful not to breathe in more deeply than he would if he were still asleep, another habit he'd honed over the years (with the help of the Kyuubi's many scathing derogatory phrases). What little scent reached his nose told him they were underground; the air he tasted spoke the same story.

That made sense, Naruto remembered, hadn't they gone down a hole? There was no sky down here.

The sound of a door creaking made him shift a little on the bed. Luckily the movement went unnoticed under the blanket as he heard people scrambling to attention around him. One man cried out, "Chiyoko-sama, what may we do for you?"

"Has he woken yet?" The voice that replied was a voice Naruto knew—it was that woman's voice, the one that had wanted him, the one that had commandeered the army that had overwhelmed him. This person Naruto had a grudge against automatically.

Another man answered in a respectful tone, "No, my lady, he still sleeps."

Naruto could almost hear the woman frown—Chiyoko, was it? "He should be waking now." She sounded haughty, like it was Naruto's guards' fault that he wasn't awake. Judging from the scared, hasty whimpers around him, they knew it too.

"Soon, Chiyoko-sama," a woman reassured her, voice trembling slightly. "He will wake soon."

"He better," Chiyoko growled before the door slammed again. This woman was obviously not very patient. _And arrogant, _Naruto thought as whispers erupted around him. _"Wake him up?" "We should!" "What if she finds out?" "Just get yelled at again…" "Remember what happened to those people who actually defied her?" _The last one made everyone hush and stay fearfully silent.

What were they being quiet for? Naruto demanded internally. The authority was made to be undermined—look at all the missing-nins. Hadn't they left because of authorities?

_You didn't, _whispered 'his' voice.

But that wasn't entirely true, or so Naruto attempted to convince himself. If those elders, the ones that had tried to control everything, hadn't made the decision not to bring him back—if Tsunade had remembered—he wouldn't be here. He would have been safe at home, without causing pain to his ex-teammates—

_**What pain? **_The Kyuubi growled. _**You haven't caused any pain. They've only hurt you, they're the untrusted ones! Look at them. The pink-haired one is even plotting against you…**_

Naruto tried to grasp what had been coming to him when he had thought of the pain he'd caused, but it slipped fruitlessly through his fingertips. He watched the thought disappear among the fox's soothing words, and the usual one-track mindset Naruto had covered any more doubtful ideas he might have had.

His fingers twitched again and his breathing sounded loud in the quietness of his room. Cage. Cell. Same thing. The digits moved easily, and Naruto deemed that the strength level he was at now was appropriate to take on his guards. Just to check though...

_Is it time?_

The demon chuckled cruelly, eyes squinting shut. _**I've waited for this for days. Attack them already.**_

Naruto's eyes flashed open as if on command.

They adjusted in an instant to the dimness; the only light came in from the barred window in the door. That window could be problematic, he judged, if he killed his guards loudly. They could scream and attract attention, so…

His eyes flickered over to the nearest guard, a mere three feet away, looking sleepy and tired. There were prominent circles under his eyes, showing that perhaps these guards had pulled all-nighters to guard him. Naruto's eyes quickly categorized the rest of the patrol—eight in total, all in different positions. The closest one to the door was the only one who looked alert, but she was also the farthest from Naruto.

Just as the crocodile sheds tears before swallowing its prey, Naruto smiled softly, attracting the attention of his nearest guard, before bursting up from his bed.

The straps fell away like butter, no match for the burning chakra of a demon. Reinforced with the same chakra, Naruto quickly knocked out the first guard before leaping onto the second. By the time he was on the fourth guard, the rest of them were only realizing that something was going terribly wrong.

Naruto had predicted right—the guard closest to the door was the only one to really be afraid of, if only because she looked as clever as she was alert. Her hand snatched the door's handle, and she opened her mouth, ready to scream or yell.

Naruto couldn't let that happen.

He pushed off the fifth guard's body and tackled the guard by the door, who knocked her head painfully against the floor. Dazed but not quite out, she elbowed him in the ribs and twisted violently. Naruto grabbed the arm and pulled hard, hearing a sickening _pop. _Before she could scream, a thin veil of chakra raced over his skin and a clawed chakra hand fit snugly around her throat like a necklace. The light died in her eyes quickly.

Naruto slowly stood, staring at the remaining two guards who huddled, terrified, against the wall. The bodies of their comrades littered the floor; some dead, some groaning.

"D-don't hurt us," one pleaded. The other didn't say anything, merely reaching for their weapons holster instead with pitifully shaking hands. Naruto, however, had no such thing as sympathy left in the heart that the Kyuubi had painted black.

"I'm sorry you were the ones chosen to guard me," Naruto murmured as he slammed one guard into the wall, creating a minor crater and throwing the other one clear across the room. The guard hit his bed before cracking his head against the wall before slumping to the ground, Naruto appearing above him to finish the poor man off with one well-placed punch.

The door closed softly a few minutes later as Naruto stepped out into an empty hallway, blank and deserted. A few desolate candles, placed at random intervals, were the only sources of light.

_Which way to go? _he mused, breathing in deeply. The underground air was damp and slightly chilly, but after the whole snow and blizzard fiasco with Sasuke, this minor cold hardly bothered him at all. _That's right—Sasuke… Should I find him? _

Naruto didn't even realize that somewhere along the way, he'd taken to asking the Kyuubi for guidance and advice. Somewhere along the way, the demon fox had taken on the role of a mentor; albeit a very sick and twisted mentor. Somewhere along the way, the Nine-tails had taken Kakashi's place, taken the Hokages' places, taken his friends' places. This is what comes of being alone with one person—you end up depending on them, probably more than you'd think and more than you'd like.

The fox didn't disappoint. _**Of course not. If he's worth being our ally—**_the word, as usual, was spat with no small amount of contempt—_**he should be capable of escaping on his own without our help. Why should we assist him? Did he aid us against that army?**_

_No… _Naruto had to concede. Of course the Kyuubi had that kind of logic, but in its own right, it _was _logical. Why help someone who had never helped you? Unless you were kind, of course, something Naruto used to be.

Killing mercilessly kind of takes that away.

_**Leave him be for now. If the Uchiha is really such an incompetent fool, we will go rescue him. He shouldn't even be awake, **_the fox added. _**You only are because of me.**_

_I—_

Naruto never got a chance to finish his sentence.

Oh, it wasn't as if he got injured or anything as dangerous as that. Perhaps it was his hearing, or just the instincts that he had come to rely on, but Naruto had somehow picked up footsteps. Someone was approaching, quickly; no, more than one person was coming. He could hear the separate footsteps now, one purposeful, one lighter.

Naruto glanced around, catching sight of a hallway disappearing around the corner. It wasn't as if he could just go back into the room and pretend nothing had happened now! He took off for the hallway, half-hoping that the two people coming would stop at the room. And they did.

Before Chiyoko even spoke, Naruto knew she was there by the sheer power that woman exuded. A creepy power, almost. That woman (which was easier to say than Chiyoko, for names implied that you knew the person you were speaking of) was strange. Strange, scary, ambitious… But everyone had a mask. What was under hers?

Whatever it was, her weaknesses certainly didn't show in her voice. "I'm trusting you, Sai. You know how important my trust is, so don't let me down." She promised a hidden threat as Naruto heard the jingle of keys and metal scraping against metal. Hopefully Chiyoko didn't decide to look in the window.

"Of course," the familiar voice answered. Naruto was tempted to look around the corner just to see if Sai still appeared the same, blank face and all. He didn't.

"Very well then. And you say—"

She abruptly stopped talking, and he knew what she'd seen. An empty room, save for her dead shinobi and the one or two knocked out ones. And most of all, the empty bed.

"Oh look," Sai broke the silence, too calmly, "our little prisoner has awakened."

Naruto didn't know what to expect from that woman. He didn't know what type of person she even was, other than cold and cruel; despite that, he at least expected some kind of angered reaction, or maybe even shock or disbelief.

But no, like so many others, Chiyoko proved to be an enigma. She didn't sound surprised in the slightest when she said, "Just what I thought. Exceptional." No, she sounded _pleased. _

_**Nasty woman, **_hissed the Kyuubi. _**We cannot fall at **_**her **_**hands.**_

_Do you know this woman? _Naruto wondered. Perhaps that was why the fox had been acting so strange in the bar? But no, that didn't appear to be the case.

The Kyuubi's eyes glowed vehemently, searing their image into Naruto's brain. _**Of course not; she's not someone I would recognize. But when we set foot into this despicable village, I knew from the first step that there was someone here who was powerful. Not nearly as powerful as the Akatsuki, but close.**_

_That's dangerous then, _he concluded, ears pricked. He could hear distant conversation, like Sai and that woman were in the room, but they weren't drawing closer so Naruto wasn't particularly worried.

_**We need to… watch out! **_

The fox's words were so sudden Naruto jolted, glancing down near his feet. It was too late. Three bands of inky blackness launched upward, winding tight around his arms and legs. Sai's snakes.

_Sneaky little— _Naruto muttered inside his head, not daring to say it out loud. He summoned a large amount of the Kyuubi's chakra and broke the snakes with some effort; Sai must have put quite a lot of chakra into them. At that very moment he could hear Chiyoko and Sai's footsteps running toward him.

_**Get away! **_the fox ordered. _**To the left, right, right again! **_

Naruto followed the commands quickly, not bothering to actually check where he was going. The tiny explosion he'd created from escaping the snakes should have slowed his tails down for a second, but that was long enough for him to escape.

Now, all he had to worry about was if he was going in the right direction or not. And if Chiyoko would catch him. After all, this was her home, one she probably knew a lot better than the Kyuubi.

Speaking of that. _Do you even know where you're going? _Naruto took another left. Another same passageway faced him, appearing exactly like the one before, and the one before that, and so on. _Shouldn't I just stop and fight her?_

_**Do you want to die? We don't know what she can do! **_

_But it's _you_. Our power can surpass anything if we work together, _Naruto tried, feeling tired of running. Running was for the weak, wasn't it? It was like running away, escaping. Why do that when you can just fight and win? Wasn't that what the fox was always saying? Wasn't he the one who was always saying 'weak, weak, weak'?

The demon must have sensed his host's impatience, because he grinned suddenly, showing dagger-sharp teeth. _**You want to fight, huh? I guess there's a bloodthirsty side to you after all… Fine then. Turn left. You can have your fight.**_

Naruto almost didn't like the sound of that.

He turned left anyway—and immediately came face to face with a large mass of shinobi, in various outfits carrying various amounts of food, obviously on their way to lunch or break or something like that. The first one let out a startled yell as Naruto dived into the crowd.

Bodies immediately pushed back at him, resisting, and both sides went nowhere for a few tense moments. Then the Kyuubi roared, _**Fight then! Coward! Or are you too weak? **_Ah, there was that word.

It was as much a fight as about, well, the fight that had occurred in Naruto's room. Lunches flew everywhere as he stabbed and kicked his way through the crowd with someone's katana he'd taken. Naruto had no clue how to wield a katana, but he improvised, probably badly. Still, a sword with a sharp edge is still a weapon. Naruto was halfway through venting his anger when his pursuers skidded around the corner. Somewhere between chasing him, they'd picked up a few reinforcements, including Sakura and Yamato. Both looked determined and not the least bit sad, so Naruto concluded to do the same. He didn't feel any sorrow for them anyway, so that at least made his job easier.

However, it just made him angrier when he heard footsteps approaching behind him. So they wanted to cut him off from the back too? Naruto glared straight ahead, meeting the eyes of Chiyoko, _that woman._

For the first time, he really got a good look at her. If time had taught him anything, it was not to focus on the looks but on the eyes, the way they moved, how their emotions played out on their face. That was how to ultimately defeat someone, because once you know their weaknesses, what pushes their buttons, so to speak—game over.

So Naruto did that. He looked into her eyes, and he was met with a wall; opaque, unreadable, whatever one may choose to call it. No feelings swirled inside those eyes, the eyes of a cold-blooded and cold-hearted animal. What was strange though, was that Chiyoko certainly projected feelings… but where were they in her eyes? She fidgeted, a sign of impatience; her features certainly looked excited; there was a wild energy all around her. So where was it _in her eyes? _It was bothering Naruto more than he'd thought it could.

"Are you going to fight?" Chiyoko asked, oblivious to the crazed thoughts racing through his head. She looked amused now, like she was the predator. No! That job was _Naruto's! _He couldn't be chased. He couldn't be made prey of again.

Naruto felt his eyes burn red, and his hands curled into fists. "Do you want me to?" he growled.

It was the first time Chiyoko had ever heard him speak, or rather, talk to her. Her face once again flipped, changing to delighted in a heartbeat. The Kyuubi mimicked Naruto's growl, reverberating through his brain, barely letting him hear that woman's words, which probably would've been for the better.

"He can talk!" she cried, lips curving in a distinctly cold, menacing way that completely contradicted her too bubbly voice. "Delightful."

"I can kill too," Naruto told her, copying her smile. "I can kill you." He completely ignored Sakura's strangely heartbroken expression, nor the similar one in Sai's eyes. He didn't need Konoha anymore. Why should they be sad he was a murderer? Naruto had long let them go…and they needed to do the same.

It was then Chiyoko changed, while he was occupied with his ex-teammates. Once Naruto glanced back at her, he almost didn't recognize her. Was this the same woman, faking her emotions? Because he was almost positive that was what she had been doing—nobody could have such blank eyes while expressing such volatile emotions. Even her voice was colder, harsher, and there was no doubt that this woman wasn't a weakling. She was strong…

But everyone has a weakness.

"Are you so sure about that?" was all she asked, but it was all Naruto needed to hear.

"Never more sure," he snarled before rushing toward her.

Perhaps foolishly, perhaps to his death. This was what Naruto lived for though—that chase, the excitement, fighting someone stronger than him, it was all worth it. It was all worth it to experience the dizzying drug of chakra, power, technique, and adrenaline surging together.

And he would have gotten the chance to experience that drug again if only someone hadn't stepped in front of him at the last second.

Sakura.

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><p><strong>Once again, I'm terribly sorry. D:<strong>

**Aaaand that's a wrap! Lol, chapter 25 at your mercy to hate or love, or just feel indifferent. Ah, and agui972! I miss you! Hope you can get a computer with _working _–cough, stupid house, cough- Internet access soon! And for the rest of my lovely readers, thank you, see you next week~! **

**TBC!**

**P.S. Can't help adding, hope everyone had an excellent Halloween! And got lots of candy! Remember, you're never too old to trick-or-treat…**


	28. Chapter Twenty Six

**A/N: Uhhhh…. don'tkillme! *holds up hands in self-defense* I'm so sorry! I know it's supposed to be Thursday, and now it's Friday, but life interfered. Again. (Maybe Fate doesn't want me to write this? le gasp –dies-) Anyway, something popped up yesterday with band and all that stuff (auditions are so scary!) so, here Dark Angel is, late again. I'm sorry! **

**Warning: Ahhem, as you will notice, I was reading some cracky parody one-shots before writing Sasuke's part…so if it seems a little off (like it did to me), well, what can I do? XD**

**Disclaimer: After my long and winded explanation, do you really want me to go on and on about how I don't own Naruto… or read? I say the latter.**

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><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Twenty-Six<strong>

_A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself. –_Unknown

_No sword bites so fiercely as an evil tongue. –_Sir Phillip Sidney

He blinked.

Darkness coated him like a bandage, preventing him from seeing beyond him… if there was anything beyond him.

His limbs felt heavy too heavy to move, but somehow he managed, turning glaring eyes over to his side. Nobody was there. It hurt even more to sit up—it felt as if a ten ton elephant named Fatigue was sitting on him and its baby, Exhaustion, sat on his chest, but somehow, again, he managed. Maybe it was his strength, that same thing that propelled him to keep striving for that one goal just out of his reach. Or he just really, really wanted to get up.

He wasn't in a good mood today. Not that he ever was.

His head swung toward the door, open and standing wide like someone had left in a hurry and hadn't bothered to close it properly. He swung his feet over the side of the bed and stood, staggering a little before righting himself without falling. A minor achievement, considering the fact that his head pounded like he had a major hangover.

It was supposedly caused by overreaching his stamina, going farther than he normally did, but to him? Well, to him, it felt like he'd failed. And he, of all people, didn't fail. He _couldn't _fail.

To fail meant to fall short. To fall short eventually meant losing. Defeat. Unacceptable.

So he continued to push himself, reaching the door and leaning heavily against the frame, eyes narrowed into a dark glare he hadn't used in months. There was absolutely nobody around, a strange occurrence, seeing how they had seemed to want to _capture _him not so long ago. Was this a trap then? His genius brain worked to find out possible solutions and escapes—apparently his mind had no problem functioning. Nope, just his body, which he actually used to _defend himself with. _

His head cleared just long enough for him to hear the slight clamor of battle not far away. So was that it? Whoever was in here had just left him to go fight some stupid battle?

He wouldn't be the first to admit it, but he definitely had a bigger-than-most ego. And that ego was crying for vengeance.

Uchiha Sasuke is _not _someone you can ignore… and get away with it, that is.

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><p>Naruto hit her before he could stop.<p>

That wasn't to say he would have stopped in the first place; merely, he had no choice in controlling his momentum. And with Sakura appearing so quickly, eyes defiant and arms already up to block him, he just hit her anyway.

Sakura was well equipped, though, knowing he would come up and hit with his right fist. She'd pushed outward as soon as Naruto's hand came in contact with her arm, but since he'd been moving so fast, they ended up in a standstill, locked in place. Naruto's eyes met hers, still without a trace of remorse in them. Here was just another person in the way of his goal, and nobody does that to Uzumaki Naruto.

He stepped back quickly, surprising Sakura. The expression didn't last very long before Naruto grabbed the same arm that had borne the brunt of his attack—purple was already blossoming on her fair skin—and used it to fling her backwards toward what remained of the lunch mass.

Sakura skidded a few feet before flipping to her feet, nearly crushing a particularly short shinobi. She looked wary now, and still nobody spoke. Her hand glowed green as she moved to the bruise on her arm.

Naruto watched her for a moment longer before turning his back. She wasn't an enemy; even back _then _he could have taken her on.

Chiyoko was appraising him with calculating eyes, deceptive and misleading. If that woman had started clapping, Naruto thought he very well might have killed her on the spot. He hated cheesy things like that, or at least the Kyuubi did. But she didn't, so Naruto remained calm too.

"Are you coming?" she asked at last, voice soft. Her reinforcements had begun inching back, leaving a wide berth around their leader as if they knew what was going to come. And perhaps they did—after all, they had probably seen countless fall to their leader's wrath. In fact, Naruto could tell they did: all of her ninjas' eyes bore signs of anticipation, delight, like they were _lucky _to have been at the right time and the right moment to catch this momentous battle.

Naruto also hated people like that.

"I never said I wasn't," he growled, hearing the Kyuubi make an almost exasperated sound in his head. Except demons don't make exasperated sounds.

_**You need to stop talking to her! She's just trying to rile you up. Attack without mercy! **_he ordered, eyes gleaming in a bloodthirsty manner. _**That's what I would do.**_

_I know that, and that's how you lost to my father! _The barb was too good to resist, even though Naruto could practically feel the Kyuubi's anger spread like a tidal wave through his mind, making everything look red. It was hard not to get influenced by the same tantalizing anger that Naruto craved (because it masked the outside world) but he managed not to, with effort.

Obviously unsatisfied and furious, the demon snarled angrily and didn't reply. Naruto could sense that the demon was betrayed, in a way—if demons depended on anyone in the first place, which they didn't. Huh, Naruto was learning all sorts of new things about the Nine-tails today, wasn't he?

Naruto turned red eyes back to Chiyoko, knowing the mental exchange between him and the Kyuubi had taken less than a minute. He had probably just looked like he'd spaced out for a moment, nothing more.

She was still smiling softly, almost motherly, except there was no way a mother would have such closed-off eyes. Weren't mothers nice? Loving? Naruto had a hard time imagining this woman as a mother; then again, he'd never had a mother to compare to.

This was where bitterness would have welled up inside Naruto. The anger toward his father, the sorrow of being an orphan, the song of loneliness. But no, like so many other times, nothing happened. It was like the Kyuubi had finally managed to scorch everything 'weak' about Naruto away.

And oddly, Naruto was okay with that.

Brainwashed, maybe; a burned-out hollow of his old self, likely; not the brightest nutshell in the pack, definitely. Naruto knew what he was now, and some part of him was determined to change it. Change it for the better—keep the good qualities that had come out of his time as a missing-nin, but make sure the Kyuubi was gone. Even he was smart enough to know that keeping the demon around would only eventually make Naruto become a demon himself. Inhuman, uncaring, a monster, a beast…

Like her.

His eyes met Chiyoko's again briefly before they were drawn to the side. Yamato and Sai stood there, the only ones who hadn't inched away from Chiyoko when the fight had almost started.

Yamato looked grim now after seeing him attack Sakura. Sai still had a blank look on his face; that was to be expected though. Both looked somewhat dirty and scuffed, as if they'd gotten into more than one fight on their way here—and Naruto supposed they had. It wasn't easy infiltrating Amegakure, unless, of course, the rain had stopped. There was still something suspicious about that particular fact too, so Naruto filed it away for later thought.

His ears caught a movement behind him. Sakura. Naruto waited, but she didn't move again, so he turned his attention back to Yamato, who'd taken a step forward in his distraction.

"Naruto," his former captain started before Chiyoko pulled him back again.

"Now, now," she chided gently. "Don't you know it's impolite for guests to talk without their host's permission? Especially to another guest?"

Yamato shot a nasty look toward her, but Chiyoko had already turned back to face Naruto, so she missed it. Naruto, however, caught it, and wondered how his former teammates had gotten themselves mixed up with this type of 'crowd'. Maybe they'd been captured too…? No, then they would have run when that woman had come through in the bar with her army. Was it Sai?

Naruto tensed again when he heard a footstep behind him, and this time it changed into a quick pattern on the floor; the sound of running. When he judged the time was right, he ducked low and Sakura's leg whistled over his head. Naruto grabbed her leg and twisted, bringing her down next to him while he catapulted over her. She sprang to her feet once more, hands glowing green, eyes never leaving him. Naruto didn't care. He turned back toward Chiyoko, small threat ignored again.

She had that look on her face again—the one you where when buying meat. Both he and the Kyuubi growled; nobody looks like that at a demon.

"Enough stalling!"

Naruto rushed forward, putting a surprising amount of speed into his movements. Not quite as fast as he would have liked, but he hadn't recovered completely yet.

_So why are you fighting? _something whispered inside him. Not the sniveling voice, but a different one—calmer, more concerned. Naruto didn't like this voice. He didn't like the question because he didn't know the answer.

Chiyoko at least seemed a little surprised when he appeared abruptly in front of her, but she was a quick thinker and twisted like a snake to the side, lunging under his guard and delivering what would have been a brutal punch to his face if it had hit. Naruto had seen it coming though and also dodged before trying to attack again.

It was like that for a while, neither side going anywhere. No amount of punches, kicks, any type of attack worked. No defense was good enough for the force of their attacks; no attack was strong enough to penetrate the other's defense.

In the end, both had bruises scattered over their body and arms and both ached. Still, Chiyoko had a wide smile on her face. It wasn't a particularly nice smile.

"My, my, Uzumaki Naruto, you are a fighter, aren't you?" she called, both having retreated some after unanimously calling a break. The crowds around them leaned forward eagerly—it seemed as if more ninjas had arrived during their fight, eager to watch the action like it was a game and not a real life-or-death situation. The injured from Naruto's rampage had been carted away by the unfortunate souls who'd been slotted for the task, and they'd looked forlornly back as they were forced away. But even though it was clear the whole atmosphere of the hallway was eager, eager, and more eager for bloodshed, not one person talked. No sound was uttered and everything was completely, eerily still, except for that woman's voice still ringing loud and clear.

It seemed that Chiyoko had her ninjas wrapped very tightly around her little finger. Naruto wondered what would happen if one of them did make a noise—would they die instantly? And then he wondered what this woman, unremarkable in any way except that she was gifted, had promised to her followers to be so loyal.

"I was right then, after all." Chiyoko concluded, having finished talking sometime during Naruto's space-out. He blinked. "I have a preposition."

"What is it?" The words flew automatically out from Naruto's mouth before he could stop them, an ingrained reaction to anything offering help. He snapped his mouth shut again, glowering, but that woman had already heard.

"Nothing large. I just need you to get rid of some pests for me," she said sweetly. Well, sweetly in the way ice cream was cold but tasty. Danger and threats rang in every syllable, promises of what she would do if Naruto refused. He wasn't stupid enough to refuse though, at least not without considering first.

"Pests? Like the Akatsuki?" His voice matched hers, deceptive and chilly. On the inside, though, he was having a tiny celebration in having figured out who her 'pest' was without the Kyuubi's help. See? Already, he knew he could survive without his demon.

Chiyoko made a confirming noise. "Smart one." Her eyes appraised him again. "And now, here comes the other part, eh? What will you get?"

_**Don't listen to her, **_the Kyuubi warned suddenly. He seemed to have gotten over his minor fight with Naruto a couple minutes—had it only been minutes?—before. The fox always had been quick to forget small things; it must have come from being centuries old. The only thing the Nine-tails ever bothered to remember and hold as a grudge was the major things, horrifying things that someone stupid and foolish enough would do _to _the Kyuubi. Such as put him under mind control.

_And why should I listen to you? _

The fox laughed abruptly. _**That's a good point. But, **_he continued smoothly, _**I have always been here for you. Everything I do…is in the best interests for **_**you**_**. Would you rather listen to my advice or hers? **_

_Yours, _Naruto grudgingly admitted. _I can't refuse, though. I can stall until I have more backup, like Sasuke, but I can't escape, not in the shape I'm in now._

_**Of course you can't. **_The Kyuubi sounded disparaging, disdainful to the core. _**Weak, cowardly, no good shinobi.**_

Well, it appeared as if the fox still had some of his bad mood left over. Deciding not to bother with him anymore, Naruto tuned back into the living world, where Chiyoko was staring at him with another strange, bemused expression on her face. She looked as if she was waiting for an answer, and with a start Naruto remembered the question she'd asked.

"What will I get?" he repeated. "Will I get death as a reward for helping you?" And that was honestly a question whose answer Naruto wanted to know. Was it worth staying, or should he just make a break for it now?

Chiyoko didn't laugh, but a small smirk appeared on her lips. "Oh, it all depends. Everyone dies in the end, you know. Some just die later than others. If you perform well for me, maybe you can last a little longer…" Naruto half-expected her to lick her lips after the sickening, smug tone she used. He wasn't surprised at her next words. "Because, as you surely know, the chase is the fun part."

This woman was obviously a resourceful one. She knew how to move her pieces, arrange her strategy, overwhelm—literally—her opponents. She knew how to operate from the background or act from the front lines, be it by surprise or long-planned attacks. She knew _things_, she had connections, and she was unquestionably strong. Yet, with all these things helping her, supporting her, Chiyoko should have by all rights been invincible. But, the harsh lesson was that nobody is invincible. Everyone has a weakness and a shared destiny: death.

Now, Naruto's list of strengths was considerably shorter. He was powerful, yes, and he had the Kyuubi on his side, which was a major plus. He was impulsive and brash, relying on his emotions more than his head (not so much recently, but still). He was as unpredictable as he was planned, and with his rage and anger and bloodthirstiness carried over from the Kyuubi, he was a maelstrom. A hurricane. Unpredictable, crazy, a force to be reckoned with. His weakness though—had been his friends. Nobody could harm them. But now, with no precious people to call his own, what could it be?

_**Your flaw… is that you are too easily blindsided by emotions. If someone can influence you, you're done for. Just like that Uchiha, except you're so much more naïve… **_the fox laughed slowly, and for a second, when the Kyuubi was talking about 'influencing him' Naruto felt like there was a strange connection between his demon's words and himself. But that notion passed quickly.

_**Yes, you are blindsided, **_the fox growled, _**but I can temper that blindness. I can prevent emotions. I can take over and then we **_**will be **_**invincible.**_

It was so easy to believe the Kyuubi and his lies, his truths, his half-spoken facts that started to blend in all too well now. Something about the Nine-tails' words bothered him, though.

_Everyone has a weakness. What's yours, then? _Naruto asked, perhaps too impulsively this time. There was a dreadful stillness on both sides of the 'conversation', before the Kyuubi hissed. The sound was mocking and almost like laughter, a very twisted form of it, filled with coldness and almost calculated surprise, if such a thing existed.

_**Mine? Wouldn't you like to know? **_And with that, the fox was the one to temporarily cut off the connection this time.

His short talk with the Kyuubi had granted some insight into Naruto's thinking process, if only for a little while. If he had a weakness like emotion, then surely Chiyoko's weakness was ambition. Power. The need to feel strong, the need to accomplish her goal by any means and in any way. She was willing to take risks to achieve her dream down to the smallest detail, even if it meant sacrificing countless lives along the way.

Power is something almost as dangerous as fate and destiny and luck are. Maybe even more. Power can be tangible. It corrupts, destroys, empowers, brings down nations that seem infallible. It can make you the ruler of any country, any village, stronger than the strongest person you know…but there are dangerous flaws to power. It can blind you, make you selfish and ignorant if not used properly. The thing that most don't think about, however, when they call on power is the price they must pay. Truly great leaders are always alone.

But then, if her weakness was power, how could that be used against her? Yes, that could be one of her weaknesses…there was something else, Naruto decided. He knew that. Eyes harder than stone could only be gained from loss and hardships suffered through a lifetime, and even though Chiyoko seemed strong and uncaring, there was something fragile about her that would shatter if pressed too hard. Under that thin layer of unyielding protection, there was something that would burst free if it had that chance. That was what Naruto needed to aim for.

All this, lengthy as it was, ran through his head in a matter of minutes. On the outside, he appeared to be thinking and nothing more over Chiyoko's offer. On the inside, he already knew what he'd choose.

Naruto might be the _dobe_, the _baka _concerning some things—like academics, love, and naivety—but he always knew what was best for himself. What was best for his survival.

And those instincts that had always been looking out for him, one of the only things that had, screamed for him to make the right choice.

"What do you say?" Chiyoko prompted.

"I'll help you meet your goal," Naruto said slowly, hearing a gasp from somewhere near him. It sounded stifled, as if the owner hadn't meant to let it escape. "But I swear, if you try and kill me, you won't live to regret it." His eyes were deadly serious.

He hadn't meant to make any type of joke. His words hadn't intended to be funny in the slightest, or even dramatic. They had simply been doing what they always had been doing: telling the world what Uzumaki Naruto knew. Chiyoko laughed as though it had been a joke.

"Excellent!" she exclaimed. The next words were unexpected and ordered so fast that Naruto barely had a chance to blink before he was ushered away. "As a reward, why don't you spend some quality time with your fellow Konoha ninjas here? I'm sure they would be so delighted to catch up with you again; our chat was so pleasant I can't imagine what yours would be like!"

A guard of shinobi had surrounded Naruto, leading him back the way he'd come. He still stared back at that woman, somewhat blankly, wondering how this had suddenly came about. Sakura and Yamato and Sai were also being herded along, albeit in much tighter guards. With some amusement, Naruto noticed how his own guards kept a wide berth from him.

He was almost to the end of their hallway, Chiyoko still smiling kindly behind them, when a slow rustle started. It came from the way Naruto had been headed before encountering the lunch mass, and ninjas scattered back like leaves in a wind. Naruto's guards halted too, turning back to stare incredulously.

_**The Uchiha, **_the Kyuubi murmured thoughtfully.

And it was.

Sasuke stood there, looking dead on his feet but still alive nonetheless. His Kusanagi in one hand, the other empty and trailing blue. He wasn't leaning against the wall, but to Naruto, it looked as if he would fall down any minute.

_What's he doing? _It was more of a curious thought than insulted.

_**How should I know? **_the demon scoffed. His tone turned musing. _**Still… he must be strong to be able to get up as soon as we did. And use chakra so soon too… **_

_He looks like he's going to collapse any second, _Naruto answered mockingly. _You must be going senile at last if you think Sasuke is strong right now. _

_**Right now, **_the Kyuubi muttered, completely ignoring the true part of Naruto's statement. _**Have you forgotten that he's beaten you every time so far? Weakling.**_

_I get it, alright? I'm weak. _Naruto swore if he wasn't talking to something that was barely even real (and more likely than not a figment of his imagination, personified) he would have rolled his eyes and done more childish antics, but Naruto was above that now and plus, the Kyuubi didn't deserve even that.

Chiyoko's laughter broke through his barrier of thoughts, too loud and piercing. "Uchiha Sasuke! You two are certainly special," she laughed. For once, there was nothing depicted on her face.

Sasuke didn't say anything except let his eyes, leaching red and bleeding death, wander over her forces. His face remained impassive as he stared first at Sakura before skipping over Sai and Yamato and seeing Naruto. Then those crimson, hypnotizing eyes that could weave enchantments even the most skilled genjutsu user couldn't dispel with ease, that promised death and made your skin crawl with chills fixed on equally hard, stone cold amber eyes.

It was then Naruto found that those eyes _could _feel something after all.

He was watching Chiyoko rather than Sasuke, because he'd wanted to see what her reaction was to Sasuke's Sharingan. Naruto wasn't disappointed.

First her eyes widened the tiniest bit when his gaze connected to hers. He could tell Sasuke wasn't using any particular ocular powers at the moment, because her eyes remained hard and fixed. But as hard as they were, Naruto could almost see the shield blocking them begin to crack under Sasuke's intense gaze, like ice fracturing under a blade. They were floating away in bits and pieces, leaving something else behind…

Something, not fear or anger or even her true emotions, but a look that could only be described with one word: predator.

It was a hungry look, nothing compared to when she'd been appraising Naruto. No, it was far more intense, and he half-expected to see a tongue like Orochimaru's snake out. That was what the look reminded him of, Naruto realized—Orochimaru. He'd wanted Sasuke's power too badly, and then had ended up being killed by the 'hawk' the 'snake' had raised. Was Chiyoko like him? Did she hunger after power, despite being so powerful already?

"Fascinating. Simply fascinating," she breathed, that same sharp, menacing look lingering in her eyes, even when Sasuke broke his gaze, breathing heavily. He was still tired.

Then Chiyoko murmured something so faint, Naruto's chakra-enhanced ears could barely even catch it. But what he _did _hear sent a warning bell ringing through his head and alarms began clamoring. This woman might want power, but the other thing she seemed to want was just disgusting.

"_I would sacrifice millions…to perform an autopsy…someone like him." _

Some words had been lost in the rising din of the ninjas' voices, too panicked to bother controlling themselves any longer, but Naruto still heard most words clear as day.

Corpses, was that it? Was _that _what this woman was after? Dead bodies?

Naruto couldn't help the tiniest grimace of disgust flash over his face. No wonder she'd seemed so pleased when he had mentioned being killed by her, and that whole chase episode with the creepy, almost ravenous looks. She wanted his dead body! What could Chiyoko possibly do with that, though?

_**You're forgetting that dead ninjas' bodies often contain valuable information. Information someone like **_**her **_**would probably gather just for fun… You could have done it too with the rogues you killed, but no, you're just a goody-goody. **_The Kyuubi seemed to be mocking him more and more these days. He was probably just getting fidgety from being locked up inside for so long, Naruto reasoned.

Still, there was something in the demon's not-so-good argument that he couldn't ignore. _You're forgetting, _he hissed, _that any sign of the ninjas being damaged, autopsy or otherwise, would result in no money. Besides, I don't even know how to perform an autopsy, let alone one of the brain!_

_**You could have learned. And who said they **_**needed **_**the money? What kind of missing-nin are you?**_**! **_**They're supposed to betraying the village! Betraying the village does not mean aiding them, providing them money! You should just destroy them all**_.

Naruto knew he shouldn't continue arguing pointless, meaningless, conversations with the demon, but said demon made it hard not to.

_Betraying? I'm sure you know a lot about that! If I remember correctly, when I left the village, it was to _protect them! _Protect the people I used to care about...make sure they'd never hurt again. Wasn't that what you said? That's what you promised!_

_**And you should have known that demons never keep their promises. Isn't that right? **_the Kyuubi asked smugly, as smug as demons could get, that was, blatantly admitting the fact that he'd lied to Naruto. Once again, their conversation had ended in an insult that was too great to bother to try and continue their argument.

Naruto's rage was so large it was hard to keep inside of him, and as it was his fists trembled and his eyes felt like they were burning with the shade of red-orange they'd turned. He violently punched the wall of the room that the Kyuubi's cage was in, creating a hole that caused the imaginary ceiling to collapse inward. The fox's laughter followed him back to reality, mocking him with the fact that the room would just rebuild a few minutes later. There was no escaping his demon.

Something shoved against him, and with a start Naruto realized he was moving again. His guards pushed him gently, as if afraid of invoking his wrath—especially when his chakra had flared suddenly a moment ago—if they pushed too hard. Naruto shot a glance back, seeing his ex-teammates following him, and strangely enough, Sasuke.

Naruto was given no further time to watch them, however, as he and his guards approached a nondescript door painted black with a peculiar white streak painted on it. He was ushered into the room, a quite large, well furnished room with five chairs.

Sakura stumbled in behind him, eyes spitting fire at Chiyoko's ninjas. She obviously had no lost love for them.

Sai and Yamato sat down immediately in a chair, watching Naruto's movements with wordless eyes. Sakura copied their action, and feeling left out, Naruto sat too.

Maybe too conveniently, the chairs had been set up so that three faced two. Sakura, Sai, and Yamato just happened to occupy the three, leaving one for Naruto and one for Sasuke, who stumbled into the room. Despite his trip and near fall, he still managed to right himself with the natural Uchiha grace and sink into the chair next to Naruto.

Then, both sides stared at each other, unsure of what to do as the door closed with a click.

Were they supposed to talk? Chat, get to know each other, what? How long were they stuck in here anyway? Naruto was confused, and he could easily see the rest of them were too. It wasn't as if he could just say, _'Oh hey, you know, let's pretend I haven't been gone the past five years. Tell me, what's going on in Konoha?' _

Sasuke alone seemed unafraid. He had that mask on once more, but even his usual perfect façade wasn't good enough to cover the fatigue etched into his features, making him seem older than usual. He slumped against the back of his chair, eyes barely open. They were no longer red.

Sakura fidgeted a little nervously in her center seat, unable to keep her eyes from drifting between Naruto and Sasuke. Every cell in her body was screaming for her to go and help Sasuke, who looked beyond tired. Even Naruto, with the Kyuubi's chakra to aid him, didn't look as healthy as he should've.

Sai glanced toward Yamato, the two sharing a look before locking their eyes on Naruto. Chiyoko had put them in here for a reason, probably to wring as much information as they could before she took over.

Sai didn't want to know what would happen when she 'took over'.

Sakura was obviously going to be no help. She seemed locked in the memories of the past again, oblivious to the pain the two before her had wrought on almost everyone she knew. It would be up to Yamato and Sai.

The feeling residing in Sai, uncomfortable and making him feel light-headed and high-strung had dissolved as soon as the trio had seen Naruto and Sasuke in that bar. The feeling, Sai remembered, had been evoked from Chiyoko's stranger than normal attitude and cryptic wording. She was a sly woman, he had to agree. Not once did Sai ever think Naruto would actually wander into Amegakure, with Sasuke no less, the same Uchiha who had seemed to detest any kind of relation with Team Seven when Sai had met him. How times changed.

But Naruto had come, and Chiyoko had somehow known; of that Sai was positive. Or else how could she have moved an army into that alleyway, at that particular moment? She must have put a tracking jutsu on them or had a spy notice when both were in one place. It was too complicated to try and understand the workings of her mind.

Sai cleared his throat, drawing the rest of the room's attention.

"So, what brings you here?" he asked, not really sure of how to start the conversation otherwise. Naruto didn't answer for a few seconds. Whether it was from surprise or just uncertainty, Sai wouldn't know. The clear blue eyes that had once reflected his every emotion, every opinion, every thought had changed to a murky red, with slit pupils and no feelings peeking through. Was this the influence of the Kyuubi?

"Why should I tell you?" Naruto finally answered, voice the same as the last time they'd heard it—somewhat gravelly, like it hadn't been used too often or was usually used in a growl, and lower than when he was fifteen.

Sakura leaped to the edge of her chair, back ramrod straight. She was instantly evoked by his mere words, only remembering the bantering times of Team 7 and not what the present was…today, things stood very differently.

"We're your friends, Naruto!" she cried, clenching her fists. "I know you don't think about us that way anymore, but… we cared about you. And we still do."

Sai wondered if Sakura knew that the words she were speaking now were very much like the words she'd spoken to Sasuke. Sasuke hadn't listened then, and Sai could already see in Naruto's eyes that he wouldn't listen now. It was more than pride, more than protection. There was another reason why Naruto couldn't back down.

"You might be my friends, but I'm not yours anymore. Not anymore," Naruto repeated, those once-blue eyes still closed like shutters. Try as they might, nothing could be glimpsed from the unclear red depths.

"But we will still save you." That was uttered quietly and with the utmost seriousness. Sakura believed the words she was saying without a doubt, even thought their version of 'saving' was slightly different from what most had in mind.

"Save me? From what?"

"The Kyuubi. Yourself. You aren't you anymore, Naruto! I feel like I hardly know you anymore—and then that makes me wonder, did I ever know you? And I look inside myself, see the answer, and when I do, it makes me feel horrible." Sakura clenched her hand in her lap, nails biting deep. "Because no, I never did know you. Not the true you; only the versions you showed to the outside world. I knew you when you were annoying, I knew you when you grew on me, I knew you when you were serious and empathetic and emotional and angry! I thought I knew you. But now I've realized that I never did and I never will." She took a deep breath after her long speech, murmuring something so soft that her two comrades next to her could barely catch it. "What hurts me most is that I never even tried."

Sai glanced at Naruto again. The sight that greeted him was almost enough to make him, blank-faced and unemotional, rush out of his seat and strangle their friend.

There was that out-of-it, ignoring look on Naruto's face, like he didn't even care that Sakura had poured her heart out for him. She was sniffing quietly, trying to contain her tears, but both Sasuke and Naruto looked as if they didn't care. They looked as if they never _would _care…and Sai realized what Sakura had.

Those who had never bothered to take the time to know Naruto, know his past, connect with him—would never get the chance to. Because whatever remnants of the past loud, caring, deep, obnoxious Naruto that had remained, clinging desperately to the new Naruto's conscience had been eradicated as if they had never been there. The Naruto they knew wouldn't turn his back deliberately, coldly _(like Sasuke) _on the one he had loved. He would at least show some emotion, or so Sai thought, but obviously he had been proven wrong.

"Don't you care?" Sai snarled, almost reaching over and grabbing Naruto by his tattered-looking jacket. "Don't you care at _all?_"

"I don't," Naruto said instantly, chillingly. Those red eyes had slowly begun to leach back into a strange purplish blue, but the shield that covered his thoughts remained.

"Who are you then? What do you want now?"

It was Yamato who had asked those two questions, the ones that almost everyone had been waiting for. Who was this person now, if nothing remained of 'their Naruto', the one they had sworn to protect? The one that they were protecting up till now; protecting his reputation in the village? And if it wasn't Naruto…what did he want?

"If you're asking that question, then you already know the answer. I am no longer the Naruto you once knew. I set him free ages ago"—and when he said the next part, his voice was almost sad—"because he deserved not to remain in someone like me."

"Someone like you," Sakura echoed, looking lost now. Lost and scared like a frightened child. Sai knew that if she could see herself right now, she would hate it. Sakura didn't like depending on anyone, not even herself.

"As for what I want…" Naruto's expression turned twisted. He appeared as if he was fighting some battle inside himself, losing but trying harder all the same.

After what seemed like an eon later, his face cleared and those once expressive eyes turned duller than before. He was utterly emotionless as he said, "I want to destroy the Akatsuki. And I want to destroy Konoha along with it."

Sasuke, who had been near drifting away to that dark abyss of unconsciousness again, opened his eyes slowly at Naruto's words. What was this? Destroy Konoha?

His eyes opened further to see Sakura's horrified expression. That kunoichi had never been good at covering up her emotions, he remembered. Even his replacement, Sai, looked a little shocked, as did Kakashi's replacement. Yamato, was that it? It didn't matter anyway; it wasn't as f he would ever associate with them again. Then his eyes slid to Naruto, and an dry, amused smirk lifted at the corner of his lips.

Facing this new version—perhaps this was the one who had started the Dark Angel idea, or maybe that was just his little demon—of Naruto, Sasuke could believe that he wanted to destroy Konoha. What had it ever done for him? Just like Sasuke, Naruto had been alone in his childhood…because of who? Maybe not Konoha as a village, but certainly the inhabitants of said village. If they had offered the power Sasuke needed, which had been impossible and surely still was; if they had provided the care for Naruto and depended on him like the friend he could've been, they wouldn't be without two of their strongest ninjas to walk this earth today. Three, counting Kakashi.

Sasuke's eyes slid shut again, but he wasn't out of it. His brain could still function perfectly, even if his body ached in multiple places and eyes felt too heavy to lift. He could still hear perfectly too.

"W—why would you—what are you talking about?"

Sakura sounded desperate at first, unsure of what she was supposed to feel. At last, she settled on anger. She should have known anger doesn't solve anything. In fact, it just makes it worse.

"You heard me," Naruto replied coolly. It slightly unnerved Sakura to see him like this—like Sasuke. Nobody should be like Sasuke, cold, distant, untouchable. No, _Naruto _shouldn't be like this. He should've been the sun.

But her sun had grown cold, and slowly her flowers were beginning to wilt without the warming rays that it had brought.

"What brought this on, Naruto?" Yamato took the initiative, leaning forward authoritatively. He sounded as if he was interrogating someone. "Why are you talking about destroying Konoha now?"

"Why shouldn't I?" Naruto retorted, and a sudden wave of heat lashed out across the room. His chakra. "What have you ever done for me? You hurt me, betrayed me, you abandoned me! When I was a kid, none of _you _ever did anything for me. You thought I was silly, stupid, just looking for attention because I was annoying like that! None of you ever tried to understand me. You never tried to get to know me! You just followed your parents' example and laughed at me, time and time again…but I proved you all wrong. I rose above your stupid fears and now, look who I am! I am the Dark Angel; I am my own savior; I will bring justice for me and everything that you have done wrong."

Naruto's voice had turned into a growl midway through his long rant, and somewhere around that time a double tone had entered his voice too. He'd gotten too worked up and the Kyuubi was peeking through, word by word clawing its way to the surface.

Sakura slumped against her chair, no longer having the strength that had kept her going.

All throughout this, she had told herself it was for Naruto. Everything had been for Naruto. She had kept hope nestled inside her, nursing it just to bring the people she cared for most back home. Home, where she was. Home, as in Konoha. Home, where she knew there were still people who loved them.

Wasn't home where the heart was?

But it seemed that everything she had believed was exactly everything Naruto was against.

It didn't matter.

The thought came to her suddenly. Immediately, though, it hardened her resolve. She might not be as strong as Naruto was, in mind and body. She might not have the guts to pursue her path like Sasuke did, never wavering one step.

No, she didn't have any of that. But Sakura could be unique in her own way… Naruto and Sasuke had both given up and gone away. Konoha could not satisfy their needs, so they had turned to other sources. Sakura would not be like that. No matter what Naruto said, she would remain firm. She would remember her mission—their mission—to capture Naruto. She would remain loyal…to everyone.

"Yes. All that you've said are true," Sakura whispered, forcing her eyes to meet Naruto's. Sai hissed her name from beside her, but she paid no attention, only focusing on those fiery eyes that seemed to beg for release. Release from the prison that he himself built.

"I'm glad you know that—"

"We never tried to understand you. We didn't know you. But," she interrupted, "you're forgetting one important thing. This is the one thing both of you keep forgetting!" Sakura suddenly switched to addressing Naruto and Sasuke, pleading. "No matter how dark your past was, it still lay in Konoha. All your memories are lie there, in the only home you ever knew."

"Who says they're all good memories?" Naruto asked darkly.

"I never said that." Sakura shook her head softly. "Not all of them _are _bad memories though…what you always forget are the good things that happened in Konoha. Team Seven; wasn't that fun? Missions, just a carefree life? You had to trade it all for power, protecting people who don't even need protecting?"

Sasuke's eyes remained closed, but his eyebrow twitched to show that he had been listening. Sakura just didn't know if she affected him or not. Naruto had a much more obvious reaction.

His face had tightened once more, hands drawing themselves close. That inner battle was going on again; Sakura could see it written clear as day across his face. She hoped desperately that her words had gotten across, even though it was too much to wish for that she had the power to change him.

Naruto was already struggling when he heard Sakura's words, truth ringing too clear in every syllable. Why now? Why did she have to say all this _now? _a part of him cried. Or maybe it was the Kyuubi.

He could almost feel those black and gray colors the fox had painted him with washing away. Clearing away. Turning back into that empty slate…

Or, it might have. If only the Kyuubi hadn't stepped in to interfere.

_**Why are you listening to her? **_he growled ferociously. _**She's the one who betrayed you the **_**most**_**, idiot! Can you believe how confined you'd be if you returned? You'd be restrained by the elders for at least a year, and you'd probably never be allowed to go out by yourself again. **_

_I—I— _Naruto's heart remained as undecided as ever, but his mind had already made its decision.

It chose to disappear back into the mindless lies the Kyuubi had been telling it. When a lie is told too long, what makes it so different from the truth? Nothing.

Whatever colors Sakura had been attempting to make disappeared, covered once again by the blackness of the demon.

_**That was almost too easy… **_the Kyuubi snarled. _**Now, did you forget your other promise? You said that when we meet Konoha again, we would kill them. Now is your chance—I will aid you, I promise. And this time...I won't go back on my word.**_

Naruto's eyes snapped open. Sakura's heart dropped the minute she saw them, flaming redder than ever before with something unearthly and something that could only be demon. She hadn't gotten through Naruto after all…

In the end, Naruto was too consumed by the flame that he had been lying in for five years. He didn't have the strength anymore to pull himself away from the warmth.

Sakura's eyes grew tight, and she willed the tears not to fall.

If Naruto wanted death, then he could have it.

Nobody would say _she _wasn't strong enough to do what had to be done.

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><p><strong>Lol Naruto is so conflicted. He thinks one thing, the Kyuubi thinks the other, he thinks like the Kyuubi, then the Kyuubi thinks like he did...sigh.<strong>

**Aaaand...Guess what two weeks is? Thanksgiving! :D No school = more time to write, definitely… And maybe I should add 'suspense' to the genres for this fic XD apparently it is very suspenseful. *nods before muttering _'didn't even know I could _write _suspense…'_* **

**That over with, I WILL get next week's out on Thursday! Promise. So a mega huge thank you to everyone, as usual! **

**TBC!**

**P.S. And once again, I have to thank the muffin lord for that yummy bowl of ramen! And your wonderful praise! X3 Not to mention all my wonderful reviewers! I LOVE YOU!**


	29. Chapter Twenty Seven

**A/N: The weekend is almost here! (rejoices) and so is Thanksgiving. Thank God. School gets so tiring, doesn't everyone agree? That said, we're nearing 30 chapters now! Oh my goodness! Hope everyone enjoys this chapter as well.**

**Warning: mwahahaha! I was feeling mean and decided to make some people hang off of cliffs…-cough- if you get what I'm saying. **

**Disclaimer: *clocks reaches 11:11:11 11/11/11* I wish I wish I wish I own Naruto…**

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><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Twenty-Seven<strong>

_Trust thyself only, and another shall not betray thee. _–Thomas Fuller

_Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable. _–Helen Keller

She reached a hand carefully up to her headset, whispering words into it so faint someone standing three feet away couldn't have heard her.

The people on the other end of the connection, however, could. Quite clearly, too.

An affirmative noise rang in her ear, and she nodded crisply, standing up with some grace. Temari placed a hand on the tree trunk, feeling the scratchiness itch her hand as the other one met with her iron fan. Nobody was around her, but it was still better to be safe than sorry.

"We'll move out once it's dark. I'm not taking any chances, especially when this is just a recon mission, got it?" she barked—quietly, but barked nonetheless. The somewhat scared responses of her subordinates was all she got.

Temari narrowed her eyes at the gray village far away, shrouded in mystery and death. Her team had been tracking Uzumaki Naruto this far, and she was determined to find out if he was actually here. If they had been led on that wild, _cold _goose chase for nothing… She was going to kill Gaara, Kazekage or not. It was a good thing that one of her men had a tracking affinity involving a leaf and some scrolls.

She sighed before making sure once again that nobody was around her. Temari had even sent her own men away into the woods, knowing it was better to separate this close to the village than risk being caught together. Her team was all capable jounin, though sometimes they acted like scared gennin. She snorted, closing her eyes.

Sleep would've been a welcome notion, considering they had been travelling nonstop for the past few days after meeting Shikamaru. And besides continuing to track Naruto before the trail got too cold, the weather had been horrendous, especially for someone who was used to the heat of the desert. Temari officially hated the cold with a passion, and vowed next time someone had to volunteer to do this, she was making Kankuro. He already had those black clothes on; why not make use of their warmth?

But try as she might, Temari couldn't sleep.

Thoughts whirled in her mind, from her brothers to the rain to Naruto. Finally, she settled on going over their plan one last time, even though she was confident it was fool-proof.

Didn't history always remind you, though, that the most 'fool-proof' plans often aren't?

"Sneak in…" Temari muttered, eyes still closed. Or around would work just as well, she thought, nodding. Find where Naruto was, then launch the plan. No action, just catching up on Naruto, then report back to Gaara. They couldn't risk attacking Amegakure.

At last, her words and thoughts about her mission lulled her toward an uneasy, light sleep. Plans were simply that boring to an analyst like Temari, particularly plans where she had memorized every possible way things could go wrong to the smallest detail. But, won't you know, fate is evil like that. Fate had no intentions of Temari getting near Naruto, it seemed, or anyone other than the ones already near him.

She woke to find herself being attacked.

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><p>The harsh rap on the door brought them all whipping their heads around, even Sasuke, though his was considerably later.<p>

The door then proceeded to burst open with a loud _bang _and who but Chiyoko stood there, looking smug and pleased, which Sakura had come to associate with her 'normal face'.

"My, you look as if you've been having a wonderful chat," she laughed gratingly. A platoon of ninjas flanked her, looking intimidating only because of their size. One chakra-enhanced punch from Sakura could send the whole bunch of them reeling though, she bet. Oh, how she would've liked to punch Chiyoko too, but she knew Sai wouldn't take well to that.

Sakura simply scowled in response to Chiyoko's words, her temper already igniting with a fury. Whatever tears had been emerging before quickly dried up and that resolve that had burned her fueled Sakura's rage even more. Here was someone she could blame. Here was someone who had caused so much hurt, just like _them_, and if Sakura took out her rage…

"Sakura," Sai murmured quietly, looking directly into her eyes. It was that look that brought Sakura down from the brink of fury, if only a little.

Sai looked so calm, so quiet and assured. Unlike the chaotic mess she liked to call her life.

Sakura needed someone like that right now, so she leaned on him for that support. For now.

Her breath evened out, her fist loosened, and she was able to face Chiyoko without going insane. "Our time is up, then."

"Yes," Chiyoko agreed. A wave of her hand parted the ninjas and formed a pathway for them to exit. Sai stood instantly, throwing a sharp look at his two teammates. Yamato followed instantly, but Sakura was stubborn and shook her head. Why should she leave? "You need to leave," Chiyoko said, abruptly, as if she'd guessed Sakura's thoughts.

"Why?" Sakura retorted, standing up and almost knocking over her chair. Chiyoko, contrary to popular belief—and Sakura's own beliefs—looked strangely serious. Sakura decided that she didn't like that look very much.

"You came here to get information on the Akatsuki and nothing more. Am I correct?"

Sakura opened her mouth, but Yamato answered instead. "Yes, that is."

"And tell me, what did I promise you in return if you did that simple mission for me?"

"…information." That was grudgingly pulled from Sakura's mouth when nobody else said it.

Chiyoko looked pleased, seriousness wiped away. "Why, you're right! And I also said something about if you helped me capture Naruto, and you did, so then you've helped me accomplish more than I could've done on my own. Bravo. As a reward, you may be treated to anything in my library."

"Anything?" a ninja near her, startled, exclaimed. "But that's—" He was silenced, eyes going blank and wide; a telltale sign of a genjutsu. Another ninja pulled his comrade into the crowd, enveloping the pair, leaving Sakura and her teammates staring in the direction that the two left in, wondering what had just happened. What was wrong with this library? Or…

It turned out Chiyoko had been waiting for an answer. Sai filled in this time, nodding his head. "Of course. We would be—pleased." He hesitated, like he wanted to say more but didn't know how to word it.

"And after that," Chiyoko continued, not letting Sai speak. "You must leave my premises immediately."

"What!" Sakura started to stride forward, but Sai's arm stopped her. "No! You've got N—why should we leave?" She changed words in the middle of the sentence, cutting herself off angrily.

"I've fulfilled my end of the bargain. You have done more than enough for me, so I am simply repaying the favor. Don't forget that _I _am the one supplying _my_ hospitality. I can have you worse than kicked out if I wanted to, simply on a word or on a whim." Chiyoko looked more dangerous than ever, and it made Sakura want to kick babies, something she never did, especially since she was a medic. "Once you have gathered enough information, you must leave. Understand?"

"Understood."

Sai took the lead, and Yamato stood behind Sakura, as if to make sure she wouldn't run away or something like that. She had no choice but to walk along, making sure not to conceal her disdain when she approached Chiyoko. The woman didn't see, however, because her attention was focused on something behind Sakura.

It was only when Yamato was almost out the door that she let herself look back—just once, she told herself. Not for regrets, not for Naruto, not for Sasuke, not for the past…

Sakura didn't know what she was looking back for, but she did.

All she saw in the brief second before the door was slammed in her face and they were flanked by ninjas was a snatch of black—Sasuke—a brief glint of amber—Chiyoko, standing alone—and Naruto's eyes, glinting in the light, cold and hard.

Then she saw nothing but iron.

The three of them were pushed along by the shinobi, never talking. The only noise penetrating the air was the sound of many, many feet brushing the hard floor. They took countless turns once again, and she could've sworn they were just taking the turns to confuse them. Maybe they were.

A ninja in the front, taller than the rest and burlier than the rest, raised a hand. The ninjas around them instantly stopped too, as if they'd been expecting the signal. Sakura on the other hand had not been expecting such a thing, and narrowly missed tripping over one ninja and smashing into another. Only Yamato's hand on her shoulder steadied her.

She glanced up to see the man in the front, probably the leader of this little group, form some hands signs including tiger, boar, and monkey. They weren't exactly slow, per say, but it was just formed in a pattern that made it hard for Sakura to catch. It wasn't like any pattern she had seen before, or any jutsu that she knew; it must have been another jutsu Chiyoko made up, like the summoning door one. And indeed, this one was very much like that, except it summoned a hallway, not doors.

The wall parted with a grating rocky sound, loud in the too quiet silence. The hallway was short and squat and not very long, so only a few shinobi could follow the three in, including the leader. The wall rumbled shut behind them, and for a few brief seconds Sakura panicked, thinking that they were going to be crushed and pulverized to the bone.

But no, that wasn't what happened. Only the outside wall closed, not the small space the hallway was in, much to her everlasting relief.

Sai nodded to her before motioning to the man who placed his hand on the opposite wall of the hallway, and this time a pair of doors did shimmer into existence. They were pushed in, and then the doors disappeared, leaving Sakura, Sai, and Yamato in a circular room…filled to the brim with books of every size and shape known to man.

"Oh my God…" Sakura hissed, turning in a slow circle. This was just too much to take in. How long had it taken Chiyoko to even _create _all this? Create all the special doors and hallways and rooms hidden behind walls? How could_ Amegakure _be so big, underground, as to fit all this? She doubted that even Shikamaru could answer her questions. It had to be some jutsu…another jutsu, she meant.

The thought of Shikamaru suddenly brought on the thought of the rest of her friends.

Were they worrying now? No doubt they had all returned home to Konoha by now—it had been, what, at least a week. Would Ino be scared? What about everyone else? Tsunade would probably be calm. She would know that nothing could go wrong, Sakura reasoned. Not with Yamato-taichou helping them.

Sakura wished more than anything, though, that she was home. Safe and sound. That she hadn't signed up for this mission after all—but then, if she hadn't, she never would've been able to see Naruto again; Naruto or Sasuke.

And that was something she couldn't have given up. Not for anything in the world.

She closed her eyes, shutting out the sight of the stone room.

Were their paths doomed for the rest of eternity to be like this? Forever running in and out of each other, barely crossing before spinning off to some other fate immediately? That was a fear Sakura couldn't get rid of, no matter how she tried.

Was Team 7 doomed to be broken forever?

"Sakura!"

Her name brought her back to reality, and she blinked to see Sai staring at something above her. "Sai?"

"Look." His voice was grim as he lifted an arm toward the same thing he was staring at.

Sakura wheeled, glancing up instinctively. Nothing registered in her mind at first. What was she seeing? Something round, giant, with one single large pointer that was slowly ticking away to the left. "What's that?"

"A clock." Yamato sounded as grim as Sai looked, and he was already pacing away to look at the books on the shelves. "We need to get working or else we're not going to have enough time."

"Time?" Sakura echoed, taking a closer look at the 'clock'. She discovered it actually _was _a clock on closer inspection. It was white and had no numbers at all to distinguish it, but it was indeed a clock—no, not a clock, she realized. A timer. That was why Yamato was talking about time and running out… She turned to see Sai also walking the other way, trailing his hand on the bookshelves. "We're timed?" She couldn't help sounding incredulous. They were being _timed_, for something they helped Chiyoko do? That woman just reached a new level of cruelty.

"What did you think? This is Chiyoko we're talking about, remember." Sai gave a fake sounding laugh, pulling a slick leather journal with a ribbon hanging out of it off the shelf. His black head glanced down, reading the words as he spoke. "Judging by the clock, we've got about three hours. Better get reading." He tossed the book on the floor, leaving it sprawled in an undignified manner. Sakura winced; after many years of being Tsunade's assistant, she couldn't stand to see important documents mistreated like that. However, when she moved to pick it up, Sai just waved his hand. "Don't. Chiyoko wouldn't care anyway. She only looks at this stuff once and then never again."

Sakura stopped herself with difficulty, turning a suspicious look on Sai to make up for it. He didn't notice, immersed in another shorter book. "And how would you know all this?"

"Habit. It's part of what we were trained to do as to not depend on only one source," he replied absentmindedly, also tossing this book on the floor with a loud thump. Sakura stood there for a bit longer, gaping.

At last, it was Yamato who forced her to 'work'. "Sakura, if you're just going to stand there, we don't need you on the team." He shot her a stern look that made her hurry to stand on the opposite end of the circular room and pull something out randomly. She began reading, drinking the words in, before she realized it was a book about building a wooden house, of all things, and Sakura tossed it away too.

And that was how the pattern repeated itself for a good quarter hour.

"I can't find anything!" she yelled, throwing yet another scroll to the floor. It unfurled itself and lay right side up, all its top secret techniques about Kirigakure's ANBU jutsus laid out for the world to see. Sakura didn't care.

Sai and Yamato, however, didn't care either. They barely looked up from their studies; Yamato already had a large book tucked under one arm and several scrolls in the other. Sai was carrying a huge encyclopedia looking thing, flipping through it carelessly.

"You just aren't looking in the right places," Sai told her, setting the encyclopedia down carefully. A cloud of dust still emerged from the book despite his carefulness, making him cough once. "Look for stuff about the Akatsuki. My section was sorted alphabetically."

"Mine was sorted based on the level of power," Yamato said from beside her, having nearly worked all the way around his section. Books lay scattered on the ground to show for his hard work, like birds with broken wings fallen from the sky.

Sakura listened to the words of her teammates carefully before turning to analyze her own circular stretch of bookshelves with a critical eye. It obviously wasn't alphabetically sorted—she had gone from one random book to another. She didn't think it was about power either. What did building a house have to do with jutsus? No, her bookshelves were sorted in a way she couldn't decipher.

"I don't know what mine is sorted as," she muttered, frustrated. More of the books on her shelves had been dumped on the ground, contents more unread than not, than any of Sai's and Yamato's. Sakura turned to scan her shelves again with a critical eye, noting the higher levels of the bookcases she hadn't checked yet. They looked as dusty and uninteresting as the rest.

"It could be something you haven't thought of." Yamato's suggestion was quiet as he pulled another scroll from the shelves. "Hm, Mangekyou Sharingan, huh? I didn't know Chiyoko knew this much."

"The things you don't know about Chiyoko would fill this library and more." Sai sounded calm as he looked at the last bookcase in his section before pulling off a particularly fat, green book. "Then again, the things I don't know about her would be just as much."

Sakura frowned, pulling her hair back before realizing she didn't have anything to tie it with and letting the strands go with a sigh. If there was nothing of use on the shelves she could reach, then she would have to climb higher to get it. Sakura gathered chakra on the soles of her feet and quickly jumped from shelf to shelf—or, rather, the shelves that looked reliable and wouldn't crack under her weight. Yamato shouted after her, but the wind rushing by in her ears blocked any possible sound. It was only when she reached the higher shelves, so close to the ceiling that she could almost brush it with her fingertips that she stopped, staring below. Sai and Yamato looked like somewhat large dots.

Sakura waved once down at them. "I'm going to look up here!" she called. The two dots made some type of notion before Yamato pointed to the clock, silently reminding her that they only had half an hour left.

Sakura nodded, even though they couldn't see her, and turned to the shelves in front of her, surveying them.

They were thick with dust, almost a centimeter thick in some places. Sakura grimaced quietly, the neat freak part of her medic training emerging as her fingers were stained with gray. She wiped as much of it off as she could, ignoring the thick, clogged feeling of the dust before reaching for the first book…and the only book on the shelf.

Up here, books were farther apart than the crammed state of the lower shelves. At most, five books would grace a shelf, but even though Sakura hadn't touched a book yet, she could feel that they were full of power and knowledge best left untouched. She shivered, forcing away the feeling and opening the book a little hesitantly. The first word that jumped out at her, handwritten in a neat but spiky handwriting, was _Akatsuki. _

In her surprise, Sakura let go of her grip on the shelf, falling backward for a split second before her feet found purchase on the wood, chakra gripping through her shoes. She let out a silent sigh of relief before narrowing her eyes; the pages wouldn't turn fast enough as she flipped through them, trying to soak as much information as her brilliant mind could allow. Which was a lot.

But even that wasn't enough.

Sakura threw the book down a good thirty feet to the ground, hearing a dull thump and Sai's voice, probably cursing her for nearly knocking him out. She didn't care. It still wasn't enough. It wasn't enough!

The information had been thorough, but useless. It was nothing Sakura didn't know herself, especially after spying, tracking, finding information from the deepest corners of the world for the past two years—almost everyone worth checking on except Chiyoko, and that was only because she didn't know Chiyoko existed.

Sakura half growled with dissatisfaction before reaching for the next book.

This one proved to be more detailed and more focused on Pein himself and the way his Paths worked. It was handwritten like the last, in the same handwriting too. Had Chiyoko gathered all this by herself? How many spies did she have placed around the village? How many were ordinary civilians, or ordinary working ninja, secretly leading a double life? Was there people watching her right now?

Suddenly feeling the prickle of paranoia fall on her, she turned so she was facing the ground, hair falling in a small curtain around her face. Sakura glanced sharply toward the clock, where the door had disappeared into. Nobody was there, or anywhere around them.

She looked down at the words on the page again, blurring into vague detail. No, she knew about Pein. He wasn't someone to be researched on. Sakura let the book fall again.

Another thought struck her as she reached for a scroll, labeled with an intricate seal. Sakura paused in removing the seal, thinking.

This _was _too much for Chiyoko to have gathered all on her own. Spies were a must, but then it came down to the question: how many spies did she have? How much influence did those spies have? Did…did she have spies _in the Akatsuki? _Could someone in the Akatsuki be a traitor?

Sakura shivered. She wouldn't want to be facing against Chiyoko if that was true. How much more power could this woman wield? She shook her head, quickly undoing the seal before bringing it up to her face. For a few tense moments, nothing focused, the words blurred and unreadable. Sakura squinted and then gasped, seeing the words now written clear as day across the faded yellow paper of the scroll.

What the…?

"Sai! Yamato!" she barked in her best 'I'm-the-medic-here-so-you-better-listen-or-someone-like-that-guy-on-the-table-is-going-to-die' voice, jumping many stories to the ground. Sakura managed to roll forward onto the balls of her feet, chakra cushioning the blow—but still, the shock ran up her legs in tremors, pitching her forward slightly before she got her balance and bolted up again.

"Sakura?" Yamato seemed startled, finger marking a page he was reading. "What is it? It's dangerous to jump from that high." The last sentence was added like an afterthought, and it reminded her painstakingly of Kakashi's reprimands.

The ones that she would never hear again.

Sakura clenched her teeth, forcing herself to forget just for a little about the memories that haunted her today, plagued her. What she would give to just forget them all like Sasuke and Naruto seemed to have... wouldn't that be a better life than the cursed on she led now?

"Time is almost up."

Sai reminded them of that important fact from a few feet away, eyes inscrutable. Sakura nodded harshly, fisting her hand and nearly crumpling the scroll before breathing out softly. "Look at this scroll. You wouldn't believe the contents."

Yamato took it from her, and Sai peered over his arm. Both eyes' widened to almost unbelievable limits. Even Sai's mouth hung open a little, like a fish's, and if Sakura hadn't known the contents of the scroll, she would have laughed. But she did know, and those contents were no laughing matter. At all.

"How did she get these?" Sai hissed out, jerking away from the scroll held in Yamato's hands like it was fire and the devil himself. Yamato dropped the scroll too, face tensing in concentration. "She's much better at this than I'd thought."

"Yes," Yamato muttered. He glanced at the clock again. "We can't carry anything out here, so I hope we've memorized every word we need."

"We can't leave," Sakura said urgently, taking a step toward the two when both shook their heads simultaneously.

"We've been over this, Sakura—"

"Would you risk Chiyoko's wrath? You know what she said—"

Sakura interrupted both of them. "I know! Don't you think I _know_? But we can't leave. Not when we know this much already. We need to help free Naruto and Sasuke." She looked pleadingly at them, wishing they'd understand how important this was to her. She couldn't leave. If they wanted to, they could—but she'd stay. And she said that.

"We can't leave without you, the Hokage would kill us," Yamato growled. He gave a huge sigh. "Are you dead set on staying? Why do you need to rescue Naruto and Sasuke? I'm sure they are competent enough to escape on their own. They're very high ranked missing-nins after all."

"Don't remind me," she whispered. "And I don't know why. I just…do."

Yamato was an ANBU. That was something most knew; just like the fact that ANBU were famous—or infamous, depending on how you looked at it—for being cold, merciless killing machines with no ties to people. Yamato didn't have much precious people, but the few he had mattered very much, and that included Naruto. During the short time he'd known him, something about the boy had been life-changing, to say the least. Unpredictable, loud, annoying, but with a serious, empathetic side and a knack of protecting his friends to his last breath… few could resist becoming Uzumaki Naruto's friend.

So despite being an ANBU, despite being a killer, despite all that, Yamato knew what Sakura was feeling. He wanted to stay too, maybe just to try and help out Naruto (not so much Sasuke) even though he clearly had no leftover feelings for them. It was an ingrained reaction. It was a stupid reaction. It was a reaction he and Sai and Sakura couldn't seem to let go of, no matter how many times Naruto made it clear that he didn't want them. That he didn't _need _them anymore, if he ever did at all.

"We're staying." He looked determined, and not even Sai argued with his leader. "We _will _find a way to get them out of Chiyoko's grasp. But first, we need a plan."

The three drew together briefly for a conference. Just as they were pulling apart, the wall rumbled apart to reveal…

Nobody?

Sakura jumped as a startled scream pierced the air. Even without words, she could hear the desperation, the _fear _in the scream. As soon as it started, it cut off with a somewhat garbled sound, and then the trio was running toward the door.

A rumble shook the floor as they were nearing the threshold. Sakura glanced back, then whipped her head back again, finally noticing what was happening. The library was collapsing! Books fell like stones from the sky, and one shelf had already entirely collapsed. The clock had crumbled away and a bright flash lit the world. When the flash dissipated, there was a strange circular seal burning bright on every document.

"The library's collapsing!" Sakura gasped, coming to a stop despite Sai's futile tugs on her arm.

"We can't stop, Sakura! We'll be buried alive."

"But—all the resources will be gone! We have to get some of them." Sakura broke free of Sai's grip, only to halt again when his chilling words reached her ears.

"Don't, Sakura. Don't you see the seals? Take one, and that seal on the ground in front of the door will burn you to ashes before you can say 'please'. This is merely a precaution." Sai's expression darkened infinitesimally, before whirling and dashing for the entryway as more and more objects fell from the sky. Sakura turned reluctantly too and darted toward the doorway; Yamato was already on the safe side.

Just as Sakura crossed over, a large chunk of stone fell right where she had been standing, pulverizing the concrete. Like that had triggered an explosion, more chunks rained down till the library and all its precious, once-in-a-lifetime supplies had been destroyed. Sakura felt an immense regret. Those could have been treasures.

"Let's go."

"Wait, Sai," Yamato interrupted, eyes inscrutable. "When you say precautions, is that the same meaning as when we say precautions in ANBU? I don't think that the library would be programmed to collapse just as our time went off."

Sai regarded his captain for a split second before nodding once. "Yes. It was merely a coincidence, though some might say nothing is a coincidence. But yes, it was a precaution... which means we are under attack."

"From _what_? Naruto?"

"No, Sakura." Sai's expression was grimmer than ever. "The only times we shut the library down, hidden as it is, is when an outside threat greater than even Naruto and Sasuke combined attacks. Only then, when the enemy might be capable of taking hold of her resources will Chiyoko close the library."

Sakura was about to respond when something shook the ground they were standing on. "Wha—?"

"Run!" Sai shouted suddenly, but it was too late.

* * *

><p>The door slammed shut again with a dull clanging sound.<p>

The two enemies regarded each other with wary eyes—well, neither was what you would call '_wary_', but inside, that was what both were feeling. Even Chiyoko, infamous for her hidden emotions, couldn't help but feel the smallest amount of caution. Just as she was known for her capability of dissembling feelings, he was known for his unpredictability at, well, anything.

Being unpredictable did not clash well with her strengths. Fighting Uzumaki Naruto—oh yes, that would be interesting indeed, but only if she were the one to start it.

"Well then," she said softly, taking control once more. Familiar territory. Chiyoko would never admit it, but not being in control made her feel weak, and as any good shinobi should know, feeling weak generally leads to disaster. "Now that they're gone…"

"What do you want?" Naruto wasted no time getting straight to the point. He sank back into his chair, feeling the fatigue catch up to him despite his brave words. The Kyuubi growled something mocking in his mind.

"Just to talk." Chiyoko moved to the spot Sakura had vacated not moments ago, seating herself with precision. She watched both of them for a second. Neither responded, each looking far away in their own world, or maybe they simply didn't care, like Sasuke. He still had his eyes closed, re-gathering his strength for the next time a battle happened; and a battle would happen. It was inescapable, a daily part of what ninjas trained for every day. It was something that younger gennins yearned for, to have the glory and the honor... until they experienced death and finally learned that to fight had no meaning unless there was a purpose behind it.

Sasuke had learned that, despite local rumors, at a very young age. When Itachi murdered his clan—and his older brother was still out there, probably in this very city—Sasuke learned what it meant to have a goal. People in the village thought he was a traitor who didn't even deserve to breathe the same air they did. They thought that he was just another excellent ninja gone astray, with nothing to fight for. Well, they were wrong. Sasuke _did _have something to fight for. It just wasn't what most people would fight for: revenge.

And that, in their minds, made it wrong.

Just like Naruto leaving to 'protect his friends' was a dishonorable dream. Just who were they to judge them, when they had experienced no wrongs at all? When they had just led a perfect life with a perfect family, no hardships to date?

Exactly.

They had no right to judge anyone at all.

Sasuke's lips tilted up the tiniest bit, confident in the fact that he would bring down Chiyoko. She was no stronger than the last person to stand between him and his goal—in the end, all that matters is how strong your dream is. If it is stronger than your opponents, you will win, because you have a much stronger drive.

And revenge is a very powerful goal to possess.

"Why would you just want to 'talk'?" Naruto was clearly mistrustful of Chiyoko, and why wouldn't he be? She had imprisoned him before forcing him into working for her, and then probably killing him too. Not that Naruto would let her kill him…

"Don't worry. I won't injure you; not right now. I'm not that stupid." Her face twisted. "You said you would help, didn't you? You look like someone who keeps their word when they give it."

Naruto's eyes darkened just the tiniest bit. He didn't like digging up his past unnecessarily. "I used to" was all he said, short and simple. Chiyoko got the hidden message though, but she didn't leave it alone like someone smarter would have. Or rather, someone who was more sensitive to others' feelings.

But how can you be sensitive when you yourself don't feel a thing?

"What made you change?" she pressed, uncaring about low growl that reverberated once through the room. Sasuke, having already heard this story, resigned himself to sleep.

"Everything," Naruto answered, looking ominous. His hair shadowed his eyes, preventing her from seeing into them. Inside, though, the Kyuubi was roaring at him; something along the lines of 'shut that woman up!' and 'don't listen to her, kill her!' The normal bloodthirsty tactics.

"I know your history." Chiyoko's subject change was abrupt and unexpected, forcing him to glance up in minor confusion that was well masked. For once there was nothing displayed on her stolid face. "Alone, raised by nobody, cared for by nobody, a demon child. You felt like you were being mistreated for something you didn't even do, and closed yourself off. Yet, then you started playing pranks; the village's biggest nuisance and troublemaker. Why you would go through all that trouble to gain attention, when you simply could have done what you're doing now makes no sense to me." She shook her head despondently, but Naruto felt that there was something she wasn't saying. And besides that, how did she know so much about him?

"What's your point?" he interrupted harshly, not liking the way that this was going. Naruto didn't need to be reminded of his past…of his mistakes.

"Then," Chiyoko continued softly, completely ignoring Naruto. "You met your teammates. You met him"—she nodded at the seemingly out-of-it Uchiha—"and her, the pink-haired one. Oh, and how could I have forgotten? The famous—rather, _infamous_, my bad, Copycat Ninja, Hatake Kakashi." She lifted her eyebrows after displaying Kakashi's rather formidable title. "I guess if you left before that, you couldn't have become as powerful as you are now. That's the good thing about senseis and rivals; they push you to your limits… but as you must know, there is a limit for everyone, and once that limit is reached, you must turn to other places, such as the Kyuubi."

It was then her eyes lit in the strange gleam Naruto had noticed before, predatory and cruel. So it wasn't _him _that brought out that side of Chiyoko. Of course not. It was the fox, the one thing that everyone was after. A strange sense of bitterness twisted him briefly before his demon murmured soothing words in his ear, calming him. No, he might have changed somewhat to the way he was before Team 7, but he wasn't bitter. He wasn't _alone._

"So what if I did? I know why I left." Naruto's eyes were cool, as cool as a raging fire red could get.

"To protect them, yes," Chiyoko agreed, "but that's not the reason you're still here now."

Naruto regarded her for a second, wondering if she'd been eavesdropping on their conversation before she'd barged in. But no, she seemed genuinely curious, although judging by this woman, curious could simply be another façade. "No. I'm out to destroy Konoha and the Akatsuki."

Chiyoko threw back her head and let out a startling peal of laughter.

**_And they say _you _have an annoying laugh… _**

Naruto frowned slightly at the insult, hearing the Kyuubi's strange barking laughter. He was right though; that woman's laugh was really grating on the nerves. It wasn't just the sound, it was the fakeness that accompanied it. She knew that her laugh was false sounding, but yet she continued to use it. It reminded Naruto of Sai. Did this woman come from Root too, perhaps? They _were _all trained to forget emotions after all.

Said woman finally settled down a bit, lips still curved into a sly smile. "Well then, we have some goals in common it seems."

"Which ones?" he answered acidly. "Both or Akatsuki? Am I on your menu too?"

"Oh, you would only be a tool. But both are correct, and anyone I can along the way." The second emotion Naruto had ever seen to cross Chiyoko's eyes appeared now: hatred, venomous and boiling, like Sasuke's eyes. There was something more than skin-deep about this woman. Something more than skin-deep about her hatred.

"What did Konoha ever do against you? Or Akatsuki?" Naruto resolved to remain calm and try and figure out this woman's mystery. Who said she was the only one allowed to be smart? He could be plenty smart, with the Kyuubi's help.

"Akatsuki? What do you think, those stupid brain-washing fools? They only want 'peace this' and 'peace that' while taking over the world while they're at it! They claim their objective is to eradicate all the hatred in the world, in the villages, in the way of the shinobi, but they most of all should know that that is impossible. Hatred has been occurring for eons. It will not stop now because of some airheaded red-cloud-wearing fool. And then all the other villages along the way are just as bad. They only want power. They're too selfish for themselves! What about others? Like the orphans? Like you? _People _are selfish," she spat.

Naruto, for the first time, realized that Chiyoko might not be the sanest person to walk the earth. She also had a tendency to ramble once she got started, something he wouldn't have expected from her cool and collected exterior.

But she wasn't done, unfortunately. "And Konoha… Oh, I have a personal grudge against Konoha. They are the ones who have done me wrong, everything wrong. First they took my parents. Then they took my siblings. Next they try and force me to become a killer, but they don't think that I'm smart, so smart that I was already planning their slaughter back then! They just want to make me into a mindless clone, like Sai and all the others." Her mouth twisted into a horrible grimace. "But like every antagonist who's story hasn't been told, I was discovered and banished. It was kept under wraps.

"I spent the next months training and finding someone who could train _me. _You see, I hadn't forgotten my revenge. I knew in order to overthrow something as large as Konoha, I needed supporters. So I gained them, in this village where people were already feeling rebellious, suspicious." Chiyoko's eyes were narrowed and sharp. Naruto got the feeling that she had told him more of her story than anyone else she knew, but he also got the feeling that there was something more that she wasn't telling him.

"And now?" he prompted, already knowing what was coming next.

"And now, I've got you. I can bring down Konoha, crumble their walls until they bow down to my feet. I can finally get my vengeance."

That was what Naruto had been waiting for. Vengeance, revenge; of course Chiyoko would be the type of person to have that goal. Revenge, the only thing strong enough to keep her going, like Sasuke. Yes, this woman was a dangerous mix of Sasuke and Sai and even a bit of Naruto in her unpredictability to start ranting. She was unstable... but a clever, clever genius.

Too bad for her, Naruto didn't obey orders anymore.

Too bad for Naruto, though... he never had been able to keep his mouth shut. Not even for his own good.

"Who said I wanted to help you?"

Instantly, Chiyoko closed up quicker than a clam slamming shut, eyes walling off completely and her frame becoming rigid and straight. If Naruto didn't know better, he would've sworn she felt hurt. Her voice, low and portending future threats, was silky smooth like that of a snake's hiss. It instantly dispelled any lingering doubts Naruto might have had.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't aware you thought you had a choice." If possible, her eyes narrowed even further, going in for the kill. "You said you would help me. You die if you don't. Am I clear now?"

Naruto was reminded of when Chiyoko had hissed her warning to Sakura, telling her to leave her territory. She sounded even more dangerous now, but perhaps foolishly, Naruto continued not to fear her. That he could at least blame on the Kyuubi.

"I am myself. When I left my home, I wasn't looking for more _authorities _to tell me what to do. If I wanted that, I would have just remained in Konoha under the elders' rule, and I would have continued to submit. When I left Konoha, I left for my own goals! I will not follow anyone else's rules." The Kyuubi whispered something in his ear, and Naruto matched her voice by showing his smile, deprecating and insulting in its confidence. "Besides, if I recall correctly, I promised you to get rid of the Akatsuki. If you choose to destroy Konoha, do it quickly, or I will get there before you."

Chiyoko remained quiet for a minute. She seemed calculating, eyes darting to and fro like a bird's. At last, she sighed (_fake fake fake_) and looked up blankly. "You know, I wished I didn't have to do this. But I guess you leave me no choice, correct?"

Naruto instantly tensed, and he was aware of Sasuke bolting upright next to him, eyes red and spinning. His eyes were only focused on one thing, however: Chiyoko's fingers, now gripping a red scroll with gold thread tying it shut. She brought it up to her mouth, and was about to break the string when a terrified scream ripped through the air, rendering them all motionless for a split second.

Naruto would never know if that had been a lucky break for him—probably—or it had merely been a disappointment, because Chiyoko was stiffening and then bolting toward the door, leaving it swinging behind her softly. He got up too, ready to bolt after her, when an explosion shook the room, causing a large chunk of rubble to crash near their chairs. Sasuke shot past him, somehow having recovered his strength... until Naruto saw marks dotting his skin and realized he was using his curse mark.

He sighed, wondering what could be going wrong now. Was Fate so determined to make their lives miserable? Did she want them to stay here, forever?

Well, here was some news for Fate and Destiny both: he wasn't anyone's pawn. It _was _possible to defy the two seemingly omnipotent forces, and Naruto would be the first to do it.

He called on the Kyuubi's chakra, fueling him as he and Sasuke skidded into the hallway. Yes, Naruto was leaving. Who cared about Chiyoko and his promise? Promises were only made to be broken after all.

They were so close, Naruto could've tasted it. The freedom to air—freshness—no binds restraining him. They were so close...

But so far.

They reached the entrance to the hideout, hole in plaza and all, after weaving through countless maze-like corridors, only to be greeted with an army staring back at them.

It seemed Fate had her own pawns to contend with.

She wasn't about to let two of her most valuable pieces escape without her consent.

* * *

><p><strong>Haha, cliffhanger again? xD Three of them, no less. I'm so meaaaaan. – is shot – Also, I deserve to be shot for not answering reviews. I'll get around to it, I promise, as soon as I go check my email…T_T<strong>

**Btw, has anyone been seeing the anime so far? I mean, what's up with all those fillers? Get to the story already! Meh, that's my biggest grievance in life right now. As for next week, the Thursday is Thanksgiving. I'll see if I can get it out on Thursday, or maybe it'll be Friday. It all depends on my family schedule and if I can get computer time :/ **

**That said, I can think of nothing else… so that concludes this horribly cliff-hanger prone chapter! Ahahaha! See you next time!**

**TBC!**


	30. Chapter Twenty Eight

**A/N: -hums- No school for us Americans at least! I can't believe the semester is almost over… Sigh. Time passes so quickly. And wow, who would've thought that I would talk so much about fate? Jeez I'm becoming a fatalist aren't I? O.O**

**Disclaimer: I-I guess I'll give Naruto up…this once… -sniffles before wagging finger at Kishimoto- then you better pull some strings and make the fillers go away! I mean, jeez, what's the point if even a _filler _doesn't come out on time?**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Twenty-Eight<strong>

_Remember to be kind. Remember to be loving. Remember to feel all your feelings and to take care of yourself. But most of all, remember to be happy. _–Melody Beattie

_The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it. _–C. C. Scott

Iruka stared out the window, watching his students run around and play after school.

They looked so carefree, he noticed, and a smile wound its way across his face. Sighing, Iruka gathered up his books and teaching supplies before exiting the Academy, heading toward the Hokage Tower. He had some questions about the graduation test to run over with Tsunade.

Former students and current ones alike waved to their favorite sensei as he passed. Iruka's warmhearted enthusiasm for teaching made him popular, while his stern discipline when needed made him strict. The kids loved him.

Iruka waved back too, nodding before strolling along the sunny pathways. He passed Ichiraku's and a pang of sadness pierced him like it always did when he went by the ramen shop that Naruto loved. Did he still have his passion for ramen, wherever he was? Did he still miss the life he left behind?

One of the people that had been hit the hardest when Naruto left was, without a question or doubt, Iruka. He had looked at the boy like a son, and when said 'son' had up and left without a warning, he'd felt like it was his fault. Of course it actually wasn't—even Iruka knew that—but still, guilt seeped into his mind like a drug and stayed there, even today. _If I had tried harder, been nicer earlier, would that have made a difference? If I had pleaded with Tsunade to bring Naruto back from his training, would that have done anything?_

Iruka zealously hated 'if's.

"Iruka-sensei!"

The familiar voice brought the brown-haired man turning to greet Konohamaru. Naruto's pupil had—somewhat—grown up over the years. He'd become taller, certainly, and was less chubby than the boy that had continually (stupidly) challenged the Third Hokage.

"Ah, Konohamaru, what can I do for you?" Iruka asked courteously, noticing the boy's two cohorts next to him: Moegi and Udon.

"Just wanted to say hi, because I haven't said so in a while," Konohamaru answered, grinning. He had matured after Pein's attack, and had developed a somewhat strange ideal; his goal was to see Naruto back in the village one day, even if he wasn't the one to bring his idol home. Although Konohamaru _did _plead constantly with Tsunade to let him go on a mission to at least track Naruto... she turned him down every time.

"Busy with missions, huh?" Iruka nodded. "I see. Tell Ebisu I said hello."

"Okay!" Moegi piped up, her wild pigtails bobbing along with her head. She had always been a good student, attentive and smart, Iruka remembered fondly. "The chunin exams are coming up soon," she continued. "Are you going to judge again?"

Their sensei shook his head quickly. "No, once was enough for me. I like teaching better than judging, trust me." He shifted his books from one hand to the other, surreptitiously glancing at the sun to check the time. "I'm sorry, but I have to go," Iruka apologized.

"That's okay. Bye!" The three gennin waved, and Iruka called a good luck before turning away. He didn't go far though until he heard a muffled voice mumbling: "I have to do good... so I can make it up for Naruto."

Iruka shook his head softly again, wondering how and when this village had gotten so solemn, so serious, so _sad_. Naruto really did have his own little influence here, and without their figurative sun, the world had gone dark. Naruto's pranks had let a little light shine onto Konoha and its people, but before they had gotten too addicted to it, the light had been taken away. Now they would never feel such 'light' again—

No. Iruka pushed away the depressing thoughts. What was he thinking? Of course Naruto would come back; everyone that considered Naruto precious still had that hope lingering somewhere.

He set his pace once again, quicker this time. It let him reach Tsunade's tower quickly, and Shizune opened the door for him.

"What is it now?" Tsunade snapped irritably, stress lines showing around her mouth and forehead. She was swamped with paperwork. Lately, some of the other bigger villages had been growing edgy about Amegakure and the Akatsuki, so Tsunade had to tide them over.

"If this is a bad time, Tsunade-sama, I can come back…" Iruka trailed off. He didn't want the disturb the Hokage when she looked so tired. Not only because it was the right, respectable thing to do, but also he didn't particularly fancy getting hit with flying objects as Tsunade was prone to do.

"Huh? Oh, Iruka, of course you can stay. Sorry, all the paperwork and the missions are just getting to me." She set her pen aside, inviting the teacher in. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Just some small details. I was wondering if we could possibly make some changes to the graduation test; add a small genjutsu exam or something—"

Iruka was interrupted when a flying black shadow darted through the open window, obviously left open for that very reason. The shadow straightened to reveal the mask of an ANBU; a carrier bag was strapped to his shoulder, a sign that he'd been designated for mail duty. The ANBU reached into the bag, pulling a slightly crumpled letter, sealed appropriately with Suna's insignia stamped to the front. He was breathing hard, as if he'd run a long way to get the letter here to Tsunade.

"Hokage-sama, here is the promised letter from the Kazekage. He said there were all the information needed inside about Amegakure and related events, including Operation: Hunt—"

The look on Tsunade's face shut the ANBU up quickly, and he glanced behind to see the clueless Iruka for the first time. "Oh, I apologize. Uh, I'll be going now." He bowed before transporting away, leaving the letter in Tsunade's hand.

She quickly ripped it open, examining the contents fervently. "Oh, I see…really… That's a surprise. I hope they're okay…" she muttered to herself.

"Tsunade-sama," Iruka said hesitantly, wondering if he should leave. Curiosity was getting the better of him though: what was the ANBU going to say? Operation?

"Hm? Iruka." Tsunade looked distracted, the letter crumpled in her fist. "Is it okay if we can continue our conversation another time? I have some—matters to attend to."

Iruka nodded cordially. Before he left, though, he hesitated briefly. "Hokage-sama, is there any news about Naruto?" he asked in a rush. As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt like something terrible was going to happen. Iruka was no fool. He heard a lot of things, being a teacher, including the rumors about the infamous Suna attack weeks ago that left many injured and some dead. He wasn't of a high enough rank to actually hear the mission, but it was rumored to be something about a jinchuuriki… Although none of the villagers knew what a jinchuuriki was. It angered the normally somewhat mild-tempered teacher to notice that Naruto was virtually being forgotten. Had he ever existed in the minds of these civilians, even the ninja?

Tsunade's voice shook him from those disturbing thoughts. "…I—You were close to Naruto, right?" she rushed all in one breath, sighing massively when she was done. The foreboding grew in Iruka as he nodded once. "I guess you should know this then... I, along with Sunagakure's Kazekage, have issued a mission for all ninja jounin-rank and up, spare some select shinobi. It is formally called Operation: Hunt Uzumaki Naruto."

Iruka reeled back, confused and shocked. Was Naruto this big a menace now? What had happened to the loud, impulsive, always-going-for-what-was-right Naruto he knew? Another thought occurred to him then—the ninjas. Did they know about Naruto now... _again_? As selfish as it was, Iruka almost didn't want the ninjas to relearn about Naruto. They would only find more hatred for him.

"Yes, he is a threat to the safety of our villages," Tsunade said sternly but not without compassion in her eyes. She didn't want to do this either. "It is for the general good, which we must put before our own needs. You understand, being a teacher." Her tone left no room for argument.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Thank you for telling me." Iruka bowed too, swiftly before he left. He knew that was rude and uncalled for—it wasn't Tsunade's fault—but he couldn't help it.

_How could she betray Naruto that way?_

_But is it really betrayal when the one you're _'betraying' _doesn't even care?_

Tsunade sighed, rubbing her temple. She needed Shizune to bring her some sake, stat, to make the pain and guilt alike go away. Iruka was a kind man. He didn't deserve to know the truth and all the anguish it brought, but he had asked, so who was she to deny? She was only the leader of a foolish village.

The Hokage picked up her pen again, intent on doing work. She could drink later and suffer later too. However, Tsunade only wrote a few words before Gaara's letter floated before her eyes again.

"What did he mean?" she whispered harshly, her hand clenching around the pen. It cracked in her grip, leaking black over her skin like dark blood. "Temari got intercepted, but she managed to send back a message… what did she mean, our biggest threat wasn't even the Akatsuki? Who is it then?"

Tsunade pushed back from her chair, determined to visit Shizune and possibly Shikaku and gain some insight on this revelation. Were they dealing with something even bigger than the deadly organization out there?

Or…

Was Temari talking about Naruto?

That was the one thing Tsunade hoped that she was wrong about.

_When did it come to all this—this dancing game of lies and truths and treachery all mixed together?_

* * *

><p>Sakura hit the wall hard, making a crater a foot deep.<p>

Red streamed down her arm, forming rivulets before dripping steadily onto the floor. She seemed dazed; and no wonder too, her head had been hit pretty hard on the stone wall.

Her teammates sprung immediately into action. Yamato extended his arm and wood shot out of his hand, reaching for the man that had tunneled out of the ground… or somewhat tunneled, Sai thought, considering there was no real _tunnel _to speak of. That was explained an instant later when the man turned around and revealed the familiar creepy grin of White Zetsu, separated from his other side and clad in a simple black cloak.

"Why hello!" he called cheerily, seeming oblivious of the girl not feet from him or the wood steadily inching closer. Sai didn't know what to expect of this person—no, this thing. Creature.

"Zetsu," Yamato growled, and in that instant the wood made a wild lunge, fastening tight around where Zetsu used to be. He now stood a little farther down the hall, and it was then Sai noticed that the explosions were still occurring. Had the Akatsuki attacked, then? Was this why Zetsu was here?

But then, how would he know that _they _were here?

"Oh my, I seem to have emerged in a battle place," Zetsu said, still acting stupid and silly. It reminded Sai somewhat of 'Tobi', Madara's alias before he revealed himself. Was Zetsu just mimicking that same thing? There was no way someone like him could be powerful.

"You're not getting away," Yamato warned before directing his wood at him again. His other hand simultaneously hit the ground, causing wooden bars to spring up, barricading both exits. The roof shook ominously, threatening to break on them.

"I'm afraid it's going to be harder to keep me here than that." Zetsu sounded almost apologetic as he began to slink into the ground. "I would love to stay and fight, but Madara-sama said I have some other duties to attend to…" The Akatsuki member—well, half the Akatsuki member—would have gotten away if one of Sai's snakes, elongated into one huge coil, hadn't sprung up and latched tight around Zetsu's middle, surprising the creature. "What's this?"

Sakura's eyes flashed open and she swung a punch at Zetsu, who narrowly ducked, only to be met with her twin fist on the other side. "That's for pushing me into the wall," she hissed, green eyes shining dangerously. Her hand clenched for a second more, as if contemplating whether or not she should risk a second shot. Sai prevented her from doing so.

"You know what to do," he nodded. Sakura gave a little, semi-regretful sigh before locking her fingers into the first seal. Zetsu caught sight of her fingers and gave a violent twist, managing to get the snake to explode, coating him in oily blackness.

"What's this?" Zetsu repeated in a higher-pitched voice, sniffing at the 'ink'. "It's not—"

"Combustive oil." Sai finished for the Akatsuki member, smiling falsely afterwards. "I always make sure to keep an extra supply in my backpack just for moments like these, when we need to set fire to some wood-related creatures." He shook the small bottle half-filled with the black oil. Just a touch of flame would char Zetsu to ashes once he was coated with this.

Yamato gave an approving nod from next to them, taking down one barrier of wood. They would need a hasty escape in case the flames caught on to the wall.

The plans the three had made in the library varied. They had spent most of their time making an escape plan for Naruto, but judging by the explosions still shaking the floor, Yamato knew that the missing-nin had probably escape already in the mayhem. Just in case that had happened, their team had also made plans about the Akatsuki and how to take them down if they ever saw them, using the scroll Sakura had found containing all their weaknesses and origins. Luck had smiled upon them today to let the girl find such a valuable tool.

Information was scarce about Itachi and Madara, but now they knew how to take down Pein and his blue-haired companion, Konan, along with the rest of the Akatsuki. Even the deceased ones, such as Hidan (though he wasn't really dead, per se) and Kakuzu and Kisame and Orochimaru.

Zetsu had just been among the easier ones to kill off, so it was lucky indeed that they came upon him first.

With a creation based upon wood(1), it was only natural that his weakness was fire.

"Katon!"

Sakura leaped back as flame shot out of her mouth, Sai copying her. It was a relatively weak, simple flame jutsu, but even that was enough to kill White Zetsu. His screams died quickly and Sakura used a small water jutsu to douse the flames.

Yamato stepped forward first to check the burned-looking mess, half sunk into the floor. It looked disgusting and Sakura would be the first one to admit that, having seen more than her fair share of burn victims. Zetsu's chalk-white skin was unrecognizable, covered with soot. Smoke trailed off from the corpse.

"He's dead, right?" Sai checked, edging closer reluctantly. He kept his hand on the canister of oil, just in case.

Yamato didn't answer right away, leaning down instead and holding his arm out. Wood stretched cautiously around the dead Zetsu, holding him up to his height. The body didn't move. The only thing that could be seen to identify the corpse—because Zetsu surely was dead, or at least half of him was—was the creepy, toothy smile immortalized forever on a black, charred canvas.

"Put it down, please, and then let's leave," Sakura said, shuddering. Her gag reflex was threatening to kick in, stomach roiling unpleasantly. It wasn't just the sight of the dead _thing_, it was also the smell of burned flesh. At least Zetsu had died quicker than a normal human would have... sparing them the screams of torture.

"Let's go."

Yamato dropped the corpse mercilessly on the ground and the team departed, springing away with nothing but the smallest flame trickling in their wake, each trying their best to erase the sight seared into their minds.

Being an ANBU had no effect on forgetting gruesome killings, ghastly tortures. Neither did being in the Foundation—Root—or being a medic. They _knew _they shouldn't focus on the bodies, the killings they themselves performed, because they were ninja. That was a ninja's job: to be as cruel, unemotional, unforgiving as possible. To kill without mercy. To simply do their job as they should, basically being killing machines.

But what Sakura had learned over the years, observing her friends and especially Naruto, was that even killing machines could learn to feel.

* * *

><p>He watched impassively as the carnage spread out below him. Blood flew, spattering the walls in impressive crimson arcs. The Paths <em>(his tools) <em>were blurs as they introduced Death to the stupid, unsuspecting shinobi. So weak, so easy to take down…

Madara saw no need to dirty his own hands and fight in such a pointless battle. Pein and Konan and the lesser Akatsuki could take care of that, he figured.

Yes, Madara was about as arrogant an Uchiha as you could get. After all, Uchihas use people; it's a fact of life. They manipulate others to get their deed done, they murder innocent victims to achieve their final goal in life, they plot and plan to overthrow the very people that helped them. Uchihas were selfish people, but then again, isn't everyone?

Madara felt a presence stir into existence behind him. He stayed focused on the battle, speaking coldly instead to Itachi. "I see you've returned from your little _errand_?"

"Yes."

"Very well." Madara shrugged, standing up. He was in one of his 'better' moods, despite the fact that Itachi had stayed missing all throughout their meeting and the first half of the battle. His plan was working, after all; the pest that controlled this hideout would be eradicated by sunrise and Naruto and Sasuke would be in his grasp. Things were finally looking up.

Itachi followed Madara, not sparing a single glance to the blown up stone roof through which Madara had been observing the fight like it was a window. He had seen enough blood already—enough to last a thousand lifetimes.

"Should I join the battle?" Itachi asked, indicating somewhat lazily toward the carnage. He might have seen enough blood to last a lifetime, staining his hands forever a dark red, but Itachi knew that in order to keep his disguise up and prevent Madara from suspecting further than he already did, he had to obey orders.

For now.

Madara paused for a second, contemplating. At last, he shook his head. "No. The rest of them should be able to take care of it. We just need to find the one who started it all… and kill her."

"Do you know who it is?" Itachi's voice was utterly emotionless, blank and dull. One could tell that he didn't really care at all about the answer to his question. "Or are we on some wild goose chase?"

"Oh, I don't know who she is, but I suspect she knows who we are," Madara chuckled darkly, continuing along the top of the hideout until he got to an alleyway. "She'll find us if she wants to stay alive. Unfortunately for her, she won't stay that way."

Itachi didn't answer. He wouldn't have been heard anyway over the sudden shriek splitting the air; not really a shriek, but more of an enraged, hoarse yell. Turning in a quick, controlled movement, the Uchiha shot back down the way they'd come, Madara a heartbeat behind him. Being in Akatsuki required no loyalty other than the ones concerning the mission, but nobody wanted to lose valuable tools.

Both halted millimeters from the edge, teetering perilously on the verge of crashing to the ground a dozen feet away. Only bodies littered the ground now—the fight had obviously moved on to other quarters. From the viewpoint the two Akatsuki members looked in at, it almost appeared as if it was a death-painting with red as the background. Beautiful, in a completely twisted way.

Madara leaped down through the hole, landing on the balls of his feet lightly like a cat. A lone Sharingan eye could be seen when he glanced back one more time, and commands fell smoothly from his hidden mouth.

"Itachi... why don't you go and deal with the mastermind behind this plot? I'll take care of the rest of this problem and see what exactly got Black Zetsu into such a twist. Oh, and if I were you, I would do as I say this time. Even when I'm not at full power, I am sure I can take on you and survive." Madara's words faded as he disappeared into the darkness of the hideout.

Itachi stared after him for a minute more before turning, pushing Zetsu from his mind. An uncharacteristic smirk flashed across his face while an equally aberrant, unusual thought crossed his mind; for Itachi, while he wanted Madara dead, didn't usually think about destroying the man that had helped him.

Sometimes, though, the temptation was too great to resist.

Survive_, you say… but who's to say you'll _win_?_

* * *

><p>It wasn't so much as <em>fate's <em>pawns than pawns that fate merely came across.

No, the real master of this army was _(no surprise) _Chiyoko.

"How does she have an endless army—armies to spare?" Naruto hissed, eyes darting across the mass. He could tell they were Chiyoko's because, well, first off, where else could they have come from? Akatsuki didn't command minions, and they certainly didn't have this many spies. Naruto highly doubted Amegakure was even awake at this time, and while most of Chiyoko's forces may have been fighting the attackers, this was obviously all her doing—all from that blasted red scroll she'd been carrying.

"_You know, I wished I didn't have to do this. But I guess you leave me no choice, correct?"_

Because this was no ordinary army. Naruto wished it was.

This was an army of the dead.

"So she haunts us even now, huh," he whispered softly, staring into the unseeing eyes of the person _(corpse?) _standing feet from him. They didn't seem to be moving—no doubt they would if either one tried to escape—which only further confirmed his suspicions.

Chiyoko wanted to keep them here... even while she was fighting off her own attackers, she wanted to keep the prizes she'd worked so hard to earn.

_Selfish._

Then again, Naruto wasn't really one to talk.

"Corpses," Sasuke muttered from beside him, curse marks still coating his skin. (2) "Is this where they've all been going?" Naruto made a small noise of recognition, peering closer at the 'dead'. Well, they certainly weren't alive, that was for sure! But it didn't seem right to say they were dead either. Closer inspection revealed that their eyes weren't aware, alert, but their tiny movements suggested they knew where they were and what they were supposed to do. Like puppets, almost. Did Chiyoko control puppets?

But how is it puppets when the things you are controlling aren't even alive—or dead? No, just somewhere in between, brought back to life by alchemy. No doubt all the corpses had been imbued with jutsus of at least jounin-level strength, and who could even guess what other nasty surprises awaited them if they engaged the puppets in battle? If they were anything like Chiyoko, collected but certifiably crazy, Naruto and Sasuke were in for a hell of a fight.

Naruto planned on doing just that however: he was _not _going down without a fight. Now was the perfect time to escape and the Kyuubi agreed vehemently. If there was one thing the fox was opposed to, it was imprisonment.

It wasn't running away… it was running for their lives. For whatever freedom they still had.

Not running away at all.

"You ready, Sasuke?" Naruto grinned widely. It didn't reach his eyes—it hadn't for two years and counting.

For a moment, Sasuke remembered through a misty haze missions alongside his former Team 7 cohort and those very words uttered from the same mouth… only in a much happier tone. This time, it was suitably grim, and Sasuke found that much better than the almost overbearing Naruto from before.

"Ready." Just once, one more time, he would answer.

One more time, they would fight together, but this time? It was only for their own survival. They had learned that despite their differences, despite their obvious lacking in trust, despite that the seemingly rock hard friendship they'd built up had been dissolved by Naruto himself _(he'd finally let go), _the only way to stay alive and victorious by the end of this very long night was to fight together.

_**You know what you humans say... Two is always better than one. But three is better than two, **_the Kyuubi added, and Naruto felt the exhilarating rush flood through his chakra system. Seeing how much he used it these days, Naruto wouldn't be surprised if the veins were being scorched away completely.

Locking away the idea for later 'thinking', Naruto took a breath and formed multiple clones all featuring red eyes and equally red chakra, licking off their skin in flame-like proportions. Sasuke just stretched his neck before diving straight into the mass. Moments later, a huge explosion rocked the center of the army as bodies flew into the air from the force of his fireball. Naruto refused to be outdone.

Clones rushed in after, barely able to contain a large war whoop. His childish side, almost completely gone but still clinging stubbornly on by a single thread, liked to emerge when tensions were running high and adrenaline pounded threw his system. Naruto himself held back though, choosing to wait out the inevitable bloodbath first.

Sasuke had somehow regained his katana; Chiyoko must have never taken it away, believing he didn't have the strength to even fight. How shocked she would've been now to see him swinging among her 'soldiers', cleaving some in half before dodging an impressive spray of water bullets, Chidori crackling in his left hand. He felt the lightning soar through his veins—he _was _the lightning, the fire, everything that made up him and his revenge.

Untouchable. Unstoppable. Undefeatable. An Uchiha.

Naruto's own clones were handling their portion well. Blue glows from their Rasengans lit the arena, making more craters in the already damaged ground. It was hard to travel from one end of the plaza to another without tripping over some kind of body part, as gruesome as it was.

The strangest thing about the automated corpses was, to Naruto's bafflement, the lack of blood. Nothing, not even black blood—which would have been mildly acceptable, inserted the Kyuubi—dripped from severed limbs or heads. Another was their quick ability to heal.

Since they were technically by all rights _dead_, that prevented them from feeling anything at all, including pain. Sasuke's sword slid through flesh like it was butter, but unless he completely severed something off, the flesh and muscle just knitted back together and the puppets continued moving. Naruto frowned when he realized that they were indeed losing. Puffs of smoke indicated his clones were disappearing quickly under all types of jutsus and weapons; Sasuke was growing tired too. Just because he was strong didn't mean he was immortal, as much as he liked to think he was.

_**You either join or flee, **_the Kyuubi rumbled in his mind's ear. _**As much as I hate running away… the best choice now is to flee…**_

_Run away? You're telling me to run away—_again_! _

Naruto's expression darkened and whatever clones remained copied the original's action, each of their meager chakra supplies flaring violently. As Kakashi had once told Naruto, his own chakra supply was four times his former sensei's. Without Yamato, it was one hundred times... And since the clones each had a fair share, their capacity to contain chakra was almost as much as a normal shinobi's.

**_Do you _think _I want to run away? I'm the Nine-tailed fox! Demon! Hatred personified. The second to last thing I want to do is run, but the last thing I want to do is die! _**

As much as Naruto hated to admit it—admit defeat to his demon—he was right. Survival was more important to him... no one ever wanted to die.

"Sasuke!" he yelled, making sure his voice carried over the din. Creating more clones, he sent them in, weaving among the crowds effortlessly, yearning for the other side only to poof out of existence when someone struck them. Truth be told, he wanted to live, sure, but Naruto wanted to prove himself too. Prove to the world and to _himself _that he could do this—that he didn't need to be dependent on someone. He didn't need authorities; he didn't need friends or power or permanent allies. Permanent crutches. He didn't need any of that, except for a goal _(because without a dream you are nothing) _and that was the very core of the reason he'd left Konoha.

Uzumaki Naruto, in the end, had something to prove. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't going to be able to prove it this time.

Sasuke spun, sword flying in an unintentional shimmering arc of silver around him. Did someone just call his name? he wondered, seeing another 'zombie' like body fall to the ground. The same ground shook underneath his shoes, signaling an incoming earth jutsu. He leapt into the air, narrowly dodging a scythe of wind... unable to dodge the flames of fire dancing toward him.

_Fwoosh! _

They hit the back of his curse-mark wings with a sizzle, and Sasuke launched himself into the sky. The power rushed through him giddily, lengthening his hair and painting his skin a pasty gray. Chakra flowed to his eyes, sharpening them, while strengthening his body as he accessed the second stage.

This kind of power was thrilling—too bad it destroyed your body along with it.

It was kind of disturbing to notice all the bodies turn as one and stare at him. There was perhaps a fraction less than before but nothing notable, Sasuke observed. Too bad. They shouldn't have fought against this army after all; it was not a battle they could win.

"Sasuke!" There it was, his name again. Sasuke turned, catching sight of his 'ally', standing on the brink of the army, unharmed. Who was he trying to be, the Hokage? Bad news for Naruto: he gave up that dream when he left the village attempting to be brave. Normal missing-nins engaged in battle, not matter if they liked it or not.

"What?" Sasuke's answer was short and irritable as he sheathed his sword while landing. Sure he could fly, but those wings were (loathe as he was to admit it) somewhat cumbersome and not exactly the best tool for flying. He half expected Naruto to stare at him like he'd grown a second head—or a pair of hand-wings—but the other did nothing but turn away simply, pointing back the way they'd come... the hole.

"We can't escape from here and we obviously can't fight our way out, so we have to go back down," he said importantly, already on his way through the entrance to Chiyoko's hideout. This time, Sasuke stared at him like the blonde had grown an extra head.

"What are you talking about? Running away now?" Sasuke's voice was ice cold, given an extra edge to it by the raw power coursing through him. "I should have known. You didn't even fight. Coward." It wasn't his intention to rile Naruto up; it really wasn't. He didn't _have _an intention. Words just fell from his mouth on instinct, though, and he didn't particularly care enough to stop it.

Fortunately for Naruto, he was immune to harsh words like that, especially after the loneliness he'd endured as a child. Ignoring Sasuke's words, he slipped through the hole onto the floor below. Cool air instantly rushed up to meet him.

"Are you coming? And I'm not running away. I'm _surviving_," Naruto amended, locking eyes with the Uchiha. Lightning practically crackled the air, neither daring to back down first. It was flint against flint—embers against embers, if one was being dramatic and talking about the color of their eyes.

Finally, Naruto broke the connection, turning away stonily. It was obvious Chiyoko's army wasn't going to attack them unless they were trying to _run away_, and Sasuke wasn't going to concede.

Over the years, Naruto's opinion had still not changed. Underneath it all? Sasuke was still an arrogant bastard.

Lightly, behind him, he made out the sound of footsteps dropping lightly onto the stone tiled ground and let his lips smile upward in victory. He broke into a light jog, smile dropping from his lips like a stone in the river. There was no time for this. They had to get out alive—and to do that, they had to find a separate exit. According to the Kyuubi's thought process, it wouldn't be that hard. With such a large-scale battle raging around them _(Naruto _still _didn't know who it was, but he had his suspicions) _there would have to be another exit, made by natural or human causes, right?

He ducked around another corner to see a fork in the road; right or left?

Sasuke skidded to a halt after him, wings retracted and face back to his normal pale shade. If they weren't going to fight any longer, he didn't need to have maximum power … yet. Sasuke wasn't one to take orders either. For the sake of _staying alive_, as Naruto eloquently put it, he would trail behind.

But only for now.

After all, wasn't he the one who started this whole mess? This bloody, idiotic alliance? Sasuke should be in the front—leading. Not some...

Naruto was rushing off again, leaving him cursing only to nearly crash into the blonde when he stopped again. A sound ripped through the air; not quite anger or fear but not really tortured either. Sasuke didn't know where to categorize this scream and he had heard his fair share of screams under Orochimaru's tutelage.

"That way?" Naruto murmured aloud, eyes a little unfocused. The Kyuubi roared approvingly (as approvingly as a roar can get, that is) and he darted off again, weaving unconsciously around bodies lying on the ground. The closer they came to where the scream originated, though, the more bodies there were. So thick the corpses, some were even piled on top of each other while blood coated the walls. It was like Chiyoko's whole army had been massacred.

So that begged the question, where the puppeteer herself, Chiyoko?

Naruto's ears perked as he heard voices. To be more exact, one voice; a very familiar one. _Madara._

_**What are you waiting for? Attack! **_Once again, the Kyuubi offered headstrong, useless advice.

_Are you really that stupid? _Naruto retorted, ignoring the fact that he was mind-insulting something that could easily blast him to smithereens or overpower him. If the fox knew what was good for him, he would stay put in his cage until later when Naruto _needed _him.

You see, the Nine-tails was a…stingy sort of demon. He wanted power, he wanted freedom, he wanted _out_, but the Kyuubi never shared any chakra—as in, really openly let Naruto take whatever he wanted from the demon's reserves. Sure he gave some, albeit reluctantly, and Naruto took some by force, but it was supposedly against the Nine-tails' very nature to freely hand out chakra.

So that naturally led Naruto to wonder: how did the Kyuubi think he would ever get out to freedom (not that he would, not at all) if he refused to cooperate? Hell, Sasuke cooperated more than the Kyuubi did sometimes, and the fox was _in his mind!_

It confused Naruto.

"It's the Akatsuki after all," Sasuke hissed from behind him. Naruto half-turned to be greeted with the sight of red eyes glowing so fiercely they practically had a fire of their own. "Then Itachi must be here…"

_Revenge. Because now, I am strong enough to kill him once and for all... _

"Then go find him." Naruto turned back around, focusing on Madara's voice. Another one had joined it, low and forbidding but tinged with a strange sense of desperateness. The one who had screamed, perhaps? "I don't need you here."

Sasuke made a noise which might have been a grunt or a sigh of acknowledgment and wind stirred the back of Naruto's shirt. Whatever ally he might have had was now gone, and Naruto wondered if he had just made a stupid mistake or a wise decision. He didn't really need Sasuke anyway. If he had the Kyuubi, he was undefeatable.

_Give me your chakra, _he commanded. The fox laughed while orange, bubbly chakra with the consistency of mud slowly enveloped mind-Naruto. The last thing to be seen was his eyes before they too were covered with a film of orange, quickly tingeing purple. Naruto had to force some of his own chakra into the mix or else the Kyuubi would have entirely too much control over him.

Naruto stepped around the corner to be greeted with Madara and Zetsu. Black Zetsu, to be exact.

Black Zetsu looked decidedly worse for the wear, one hand clutching his head while the other had mysteriously disappeared. Madara's back was tense, and he was noticeably surprised when Naruto cleared his throat. The surprise quickly faded into something more like hunger.

"Naruto, what a surprise. I was wondering when you'd get here."

"I'm not here to fight." In his mind, the Kyuubi gave another snort of derisive laughter.

_**Then what are you here for exactly, idiot?**_

Madara stared at him for a little longer, eyes hooded and looking for all the world like a statue. Finally he spoke: "I have no interest in you right now. My main priority is the one controlling this faction."

"Chiyoko?" Naruto asked, surprised. He realized his mistake too late.

"Chiyoko is her name, is it…" Madara's smirk could be heard in his voice. "It doesn't matter. She will die either way." He gestured to Black Zetsu. "Keep Naruto here so he doesn't escape. I don't need him now but I'll need him later anyway."

"Yes," Black Zetsu muttered. Naruto eyed him, wondering what had gotten the creature into such a state.

"Later then." Madara whirled out of existence, leaving Zetsu and Naruto staring at each other.

"There's nothing better to do," Naruto said softly, weighing his decisions. "Okay, let's just kill you to get it over with."

Half an hour later, he stepped out of the room. Chakra lifted off him in smoke-like tendrils. Naruto lifted his head to the air, smelling the sweetness of fresh air from somewhere far off; his eyes gleamed. _More prey? _

Zetsu had been too easy to kill—his chakra was like molten lava. Zetsu merely caught aflame and dwindled away. Madara must have either been delusional or simply wanted Zetsu dead. Naruto chuckled. One less Akatsuki for them to think about…

Now, to find Sasuke.

* * *

><p>The wind sounded haunted as it swirled between Itachi and the woman standing not far away. Her eyes were as hard as ice and equally chilly; but Itachi's freezing, unmoving stare was unmatchable. "You are…"<p>

"What do you want? Why did you come to destroy me?" she shot back.

"You were a flaw in our plans. It is merely time for you to die." Itachi stared coolly back before his ears caught a small noise from behind him. A footstep. His eyes narrowed when he identified the chakra signature the owner was making no attempt to mask. "Otouto."

His lips moved into a skin-deep smirk that didn't reach his eyes. _To keep a mask on…_

_Is to have strength indeed._

"Itachi."

_Kill him once and for all… and maybe finally…_

"Have you come to kill me and get your revenge?"

…_get rid of this curse that he, my own older brother, cast on me years ago._

_Finally be free._

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Spoiler, sorta… Zetsus are made from Hashirama's (aka First Hokage's) cells, right? The wood ones? So, technically…wood… yeah.<strong>

**(2) And I'm sure people remember, but just in case: Sasuke/Itachi battle has not occurred yet, so Orochimaru's essence is still in Sasuke. Hence, curse mark.**

**And yes, Zetsu actually died. FINALLY some Akatsuki member died… O.O *sigh* Now just need to kill the rest off in a believable manner- (jk!) Anyway, Chiyoko's jutsu is based off of Sasori's 100 puppet thing/Impure World Resurrection/and some random Orochimaru-type alchemy. Sorta. I was brain-dead, okay? It's good enough :P**

**See, I was nicer this time, no cliffies… so, please, leave a review? Pleeeease? For Thanksgiving and you know, all that giving thanks stuff? :3 They're so nice and cuddly XD That said, Happy Thanksgiving to anyone who celebrates it! **

**TBC!**

**P.S. REVIEW! okay yeah whatever, going to eat pie now...**


	31. Chapter Twenty Nine

**A/N: Well Thanksgiving weekend was full of surprises. The biggest one was that I GOT ROBBED. Someone freaking stole my shopping bag! Gahhh it just makes me mad. I mean, WHY would you do such a thing?.! Hello? The nerve…**

**Anyway, yeah. It was an unusual holiday... and then I discovered we actually had 3 weeks of school left, not 2, till winter break. So now I have to suffer fifteen days (well technically fourteen and a half, but whatever) till school ends. The world hates me. It's plotting against me! I mean, I don't think I've done anything wrong to deserve it. Did I?**

**Disclaimer: Um, after that long rambling thing I called an author's note, please make up a disclaimer if you really think you need one. Otherwise, enjoy chapter 29. Thank you for reading.**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Twenty-Nine<strong>

_The strongest man in the world is he who stands alone. _–Henrik Ibsen_, 'An Enemy of the People'_

_Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide the evil and the ugly in us, but our emptiness. The hardest thing to hide is something that is not there. _–Eric Hoffer

"It's hard to say good-bye when the best thing you've ever had isn't even here anymore."

The boy sitting next to the vividly pink-haired girl that had spoken turned, expression contemplative. He smiled suddenly, revealing spiky white teeth. "I suppose you're right. Being smart for once, Karin!"

"Shut up, Suigetsu!" She hit him but not with the usual force. Suigetsu frowned, amethyst eyes narrowing suspiciously as he leaned forward into her space.

"Hey, what's up? Spill it."

"I-I don't have to say anything! And definitely not to you. We're going through with this, aren't we?" Karin adjusted her glasses furiously before flipping her hair. The coy air she was attempting to give off failed miserably as nervousness ate at the corners of her features—nervousness for what they were planning to do.

It was Juugo who finally got her to reveal the worries plaguing her…plaguing all of them. "Karin. Just tell us. I'm sure we know what you're feeling." One look in his calm eyes soothed her.

She slumped, head in hands as her eyes gazed off into the distance, toward a majestic purple mountain surrounded by smaller hills. Was that what they were like? What they had always been like? No... that's what they would always be, Karin corrected herself. Serving under someone bigger, more important, more _powerful. _It was because they didn't have the power to govern themselves. But when one depends on someone, it never ends well.

"Are we doing the right thing?" she murmured at last. Her usually fiery, flirty (loud) spirit was dampened by the choice all three had made unanimously. So why were they—no, _she _having doubts?

"What do you think?" Suigetsu answered, tone half crabby and half understanding. "Sasuke is the leader and all, but face it. He formally dispelled Hebi more than a year ago; now he's just using us for information. We've stayed this long out of loyalty, but I think it's high time we get our butts moving out of here and on to some bigger things." He grinned.

"You just want to steal your swords," Juugo said apathetically, not really joining the conversation. Otherwise, Suigetsu probably would have killed him for insinuating at such a thing.

As it was, he acted appropriately shocked. His face even contorted a bit around the edges, becoming more like bubbly water skin. If such a thing existed. "No! Those swords are precious, I tell you. Don't disrespect them like they're playthings!"

"What are you even going to do with them once you're done then, huh? Can you really carry them around with you all the time?"

"What do you know? I'm strong! I bet I can!" Suigetsu huffed, throwing himself onto his back in the soft grass and crossing his arms. His executioner's blade lay next to him. He closed his eyes, managing to pretend for the time being _(just a little longer, just grant me that) _that they weren't about to commit an atrocious act. One of the worst to exist: the act of betrayal.

Betrayal, some would say, is either a complete act of the human mind or a real, tangible, hurting thing. Either the mind, strange wonder that it is, makes up such a very unrealistic thing to mask the true anger and hurt residing inside—_it's all their fault, you see, for leaving me—_or it, well, truly exists. You'd have to ask the betrayed to answer that question though, and they aren't very agreeable.

Karin gazed off toward the mountains again and saw the dark clouds beginning to roll in from the east. Rain. Suigetsu sat up too, looking pleased at the clouds. He launched himself to his feet easily, slinging his blade onto his back with practiced ease. "Why don't we go now? I think it would be best…if we didn't tell Sasuke directly."

"If we want to live, you mean," Karin muttered nastily. Her eyes betrayed what her voice could not, however. They spoke of the pain she would have to endure, the pain she was going through _right now. _

Love has no boundaries. It is, perhaps, the most unconquerable thing out there.

But sometimes, even love will be forced to let go when the owner no longer wants it. No longer needs it, like hope dying out.

The three left the quiet, peaceful village without complaints, more soothed in the confidence of their decision than they had been in a long while. Of course, going into hiding was a necessary precaution in order to ensure their survival and safety from the angry wrath of Sasuke—but then again, rumors were that Sasuke no longer needed information. He was right in the thick of things, with a supposed teammate that was also 'supposed' to be left behind in the dust of memories. How things change all for the sake of one goal. One dream.

Far away, in a dark cave not quite under the earth but not quite existing on the living's plane either, a not-quite-girl-but-not-quite-woman slowly opened her eyes. She should've learned not to feel by now; watching others' mistakes over and over, _living _their mistakes, she should have known that being emotionally incapable was better than the alternative. Better than ending up hurt and alone.

She should've learned, but the lesson never got through to her heart. And that was why, in that lonely cave far, far away, an equally distant not-woman-not-girl felt a tear slowly well up in a crimson eye and drip down a porcelain cheek. A phantom tear, for it was never real and never would be. Because she was supposed to be unable to feel _(to suffer), _built to be unable to feel, built to carry out her evermore duty and nothing more... Nothing less.

Because she was supposed to be a robot, a killer, a guider, she wasn't supposed to cry. Yet with her stupidly kind heart—so different from her male counterpart—and her naïve, trusting mind that trod blindly on a path it believed was right, that it believed would help the ones she wanted to help, she couldn't stop that ghostly tear from slipping out.

She shut her eyes slowly, cold black replacing the warm red.

Nakami should've known better than to feel. To feel for Sasuke was worse.

But she was as compassionate as she was not an Uchiha (which was to say, very much) and to see anyone be left behind by the people they once called friends _(tools) _or teammates was heartbreaking. Even more so because Sasuke had been hurt so much already and she was afraid that this would just drive him even more into that maddening darkness and that intoxicating red well of fire…

Betrayal was cruel.

To shed tears for someone who didn't—wouldn't, _couldn't_—care was the worst.

* * *

><p>Death is nothing more than a statistic.<p>

Unless you take the time to actually think about it, that is.

Sakura stared at the dead bodies strewn across the paths. She hadn't seen this many corpses since Pein's attack on the village, and the thought of Pein brought anger, fresh and boiling, to the forefront of her mind once more.

"Let's go!" she ordered, leaping ahead into the darkness. Sakura willed the images away from her mind, focusing only on the task ahead.

_Make sure they're all out of here… then, decimate any Akatsuki you still can._

That part wasn't actually agreed upon by the rest of the team. It wasn't a certified part of the plan they had formed, carefully stacked with layers above layers of supposedly fool-proof plans if one such-and-such plan should go wrong. It wasn't confirmed, and she certainly wasn't supposed to go out of the box they had carefully constructed around themselves. That entailed danger and the possible risk of death.

Then again, this far into her life—and it was far, for a shinobi—Sakura no longer knew what death meant.

When she was small, it was the person, the thing that stole people away forever. She remembered when she was told her grandmother was 'gone', 'passed on' but never the actual word _dead. _Then Sakura grew older and matured at the same time. She entered the Academy and learned for the first time what death was after a skirmish broke out among the border of the Fire country and the Wind and one of their teachers never made it home. That was when they first met Iruka.

Still, despite all that, death was unreachable. It was still nothing more than a faint, unreal idea.

She was assigned to Team 7 with the stupid, obnoxious troublemaker _(although what she would give just to be with him again, like back then) _and the handsome, cool collected genius _(she wished she wished she wished she had just done more to bring him home) _and the lazy, perverted but strong jounin sensei _(if only she had a chance to say good-bye... but death is unfair that way. It steals our precious people away without a second thought)._ In those easy gennin days, death was as far away as Amegakure.

Sakura learned about mass murders, the Uchiha massacre, the Kyuubi attack. The death toll was horrifying, ranging from sixty to a hundred to two thousand. Yet she didn't feel affected, as few children ever do. It was just another number, like one or two or thirty. Just another fact to memorize for the history test.

Then, she killed a man.

This was after Sasuke had left the village for revenge. It was after Naruto had left with Jiraiya-sannin to train for three long, long years. Sakura had just begun her medic training on actual humans as it was.

Technically, she didn't really _kill _the man so much as put him out of his misery. He was an old man with weak lungs and a fast-developing brain tumor that was irremovable. He didn't have much longer to live: only a month. Tsunade had taken one look at him before ushering Sakura out of the room quickly, speaking low and fast. There was an irrevocably sad look in her eyes, bittersweet and speaking of tears and sorrow.

_Tsunade knew death. She had danced with it only too many times…_

"Have you ever experienced death before, Sakura?" she asked softly, looking deep into her student's eyes. Sakura mutely shook her head, not scared at all. Tsunade had sighed heavily, looking regretful. "It's an experience everyone must learn," she muttered as if to herself. As if she was convincing herself.

Then, she had murmured a set of instructions including chakra. Naive and stupid as she was back then, Sakura believed it was nothing more than healing instructions.

No, it was far from it.

She remembered staring horrified as the old man suddenly slumped to the side after she'd pressed chakra—exactly two minutes' worth—into his heart. It was as weak as his lungs, and the overdose of chakra killed him almost instantly. Sakura had opened her mouth and screamed, over and over and over, till Tsunade came and pressed her into a hug as white-dressed medics rushed in to take the body away.

"Wh-what—why did he—how—_I killed him!_" Sakura decided at last, tears leaking from her eyes. She couldn't erase the picture of the old man's eyes rolling back into his head.

"It was painless, I assure you," Tsunade replied softly, watching them load the body away and call the family. That was the worst part about death, she'd learned—letting the family know.

"That doesn't matter! I _killed him._" Sakura had then whirled around and raced away, deep into the trees to hide and cry. The guilt, the horror gnawed at her. Why did Tsunade tell her to do such a thing? It didn't matter if he was old and dying! Let him live in peace for the last month of his life. Let him _live._

It was then that death sunk in for the first time…for the first time, it was no longer a number. It was no longer something vague like the dream that slips away in the morning, a spare thought vanishing without being caught. It was imminent, looming on the horizon like a vulture of death; that would happen to her one day too, she realized. She would die and wrinkle away and be forgotten forever.

Death is a statistic—but only if you think of it that way.

Think of all the lives that are lost, all the lives each individual has, all the family and friends that will be affected, and it is no longer a number. Think of yourself _(Sakura shuddered) _as the dead body being loaded into the ground, and it is no longer a fact.

Sakura didn't return for a grand total of two days before Tsunade dragged her back by force. She yelled at Sakura for a grand total of three hours for shirking her duties as a ninja, but when she saw Sakura's tears, she stopped and comforted her. The knowing look was back in her eye.

_Tsunade knew death._

Her words echoed in Sakura's mind softly but true in its statement.

"_We are shinobi. We were born into this world as shinobi, tools for the greater good and public. We live and serve and die for these civilians…so they will have a safe life and won't go through what we did. To be a shinobi, we must sacrifice and forget and move on. We must be selfless. We must be strong. We must accept death and we must deal it. Do you understand?"_

Put it that way, Sakura had no choice but to understand.

She was shaken from her deep thoughts when Sai yelled something incomprehensible but sounded vaguely like her name. Sakura nearly tripped over a chunk of rubble as she was jolted by to reality.

Her blank stare made Sai give an exasperated sigh, something sort of funny since Sai is never one to do that. "Were you paying attention at all?"

He seems relaxed, Sakura noticed. It is probably because he thinks they're home safe; they don't need to worry about attacks anymore. They can finally let down their guard—as much as they can, seeing how ninjas must always keep their guard up—which is all good for her two teammates. It's a different story for Sakura, though. A different story, a different plan.

She nodded because Sai was expecting an answer. She doesn't say anything else because she doesn't feel like it.

"I think I know my way around," Yamato interrupted as they swung effortlessly through a hole leading to an upper level of Chiyoko's hideout. Sakura had never realized just how much effort was put into making such an intricate home. She felt slightly sorry for the cold hearted woman. Her home would never be the same again.

Although it _was _all her fault in the first place.

All her fault for having too much ambition.

"How?" Sai was asking curiously. "Even I don't have it all memorized."

Sakura listened kind of lazily, half immersed in her own fleeting thoughts and half paying attention to where they were going in case Yamato-taichou actually did get them lost.

"I placed trackers outside and on Chiyoko. Plus I can sense fresh air, an instinct from my wood bases, I guess." Yamato tapped his head. "We're getting closer to fresh air, but this doesn't feel like the place we came in from… Perhaps someone made an impromptu exit."

"Impromptu exit?" Sakura mimicked, eyes flashing wide. Perfect…an excuse.

"What about it? I guess we can leave through there."

Since Sai had not-so-conveniently answered both Yamato and Sakura at the same time, both acknowledged him the same way. "How about we split up—" "Let's go then. No use spending more time in this—"

Sakura was louder, for some unexplainable reason. Both of her teammates grew silent and gave her a queer look. If she hadn't been on the receiving end of the odd look, she might have laughed; but she was, so it wasn't funny at all. Sakura _had _to make them believe her. Force them to play along to her plans, move along to her strings so she could take down some of those triple-damned blasted Akatsuki before they could hurt anyone else _(she loved)._

It didn't matter if she was hurt in the process, for Sakura had learned something strange over the years. Loyalty ran deeper than blood, deeper than love.

Promises' grasps were inextricable.

"Sakura. What are you talking about?" Yamato finally said, eyeing her in a not very pleasant way. Suspicion?

"We still need to find a way out of here, don't we? You guys can go check that out. I need to make sure they're—okay." Sakura wasn't lying when she blurted the last part on a whim, but she wasn't telling the complete truth either. And Yamato and Sai both knew it.

"You know our plan, Sakura," Sai said slowly, eyes _(black depths aside) _so clear that she could plainly read his every thought, something that he used to be incapable of. He thought she was slowly losing her mind again, something not entirely unusual. He thought she was like a princess that has been sleeping for far too long and the only way not to wake her _(even though perhaps she wants to be awakened) _was to tiptoe on eggshells around her by saying 'Sakura, Sakura, Sakura' over and over.

It wasn't working.

"I know it and I will follow it to the _letter_," she hissed, tone acerbic and dominating. She enunciated every syllable—not for the sake of sounding like a dorky idiot but to get her point across. And it did.

Moments later, Sai and Yamato departed; not so much because she'd forced them away, but more because they didn't want to deal with the conundrum Sakura had become. They no longer knew what to make of the pink-haired girl, never quite fitting in but choosing to stand out because it was more unique. Special.

The look Yamato gave her at the last second saddened her—but only barely. It was hard to describe such a look, filled with unreadable sorrow and resignation.

Sakura tossed her head defiantly. Though for who, she didn't know. It just seemed like the appropriate thing to do at the time. After that, she wasted no more of said precious time loitering around. Sai had given her a time limit, even: be back in an hour or else they were coming back for her.

She ran opposite the way Yamato had told her to go. The halls were eerily silent and her footsteps echoed like drumbeats _(tap tap tap) _with no other sounds to mask it. It brought a fresh wave of déjà vu to her mind, singing of the time they had infiltrated Orochimaru's hideout and daringly tried to rescue Sasuke. Only to fail terribly. If Sakura had really thought about it, she would have known that only the stupid try to bring someone back who's already gone.

When it came to Naruto and Sasuke though, Sakura didn't mind being the most idiotic one of them all.

Sometime between passing a weapon-littered, crater-filled empty room and reaching a crossroads, Sakura began to hear noises. Soft fluttering steel noises, the call of battle. Whatever way she was heading was toward a fight, and since Sakura had said she wouldn't involve herself in needless battles, she extended her chakra, feeling for the familiar burn of Naruto or the cool ice of Sasuke's.

She found neither, so she swung left, darting toward the source of a suspiciously fresh, wafting breeze that was hard to find underground. It smelled of rain (even though there was no rain right now, probably because Pein was attacking) and blood. Crimson, coppery blood.

Sakura's head whipped up as she detected the faintest trace of a chakra signature not seconds after the thick scent of blood—growing stronger every moment. _Whose blood? _she whispered to herself.

_Whoever's you don't want it to be, of course, _said a voice snidely back; it might have been Inner Sakura, if she hadn't been destroyed years ago.

But it wasn't. She would know, she would feel it in her bones, of that Sakura was certain. It wasn't Naruto's or Sasuke's... but one of them very well might have caused it. They were killers.

A dreadful feeling took over Sakura then; not one of knowing her teammates were dead, but that she would be too late. Too late to save them, to late to make a difference. The silence was already deadening around her, as if any living creature—Akatsuki or Chiyoko's—had departed to death or had fled. She was _too late. _She was always just too late. Sakura's breath wheezed harshly in her lungs, hardly aware of the speed she was traveling at. Just let her be fast enough—let her get there—

She noticed the crack in the wall almost too late, spilling sunshine in. For a mesmerizing second, Sakura stared in wonder at the beams of light, beautifully bright and warm. She hadn't seen sunshine in so long.

And then the moment passed, and Sakura was squeezing through the crack. Warmth bled onto her face and blinded her for a second too long, too late, she was always too late. The sun had rose without her permission _(like it always did) _and Sakura squinted through the haze it brought. She was greeted with blood, red and dark and splashing the floors and the walls.

Nobody was in sight.

Only Chiyoko—or what maybe wasn't Chiyoko. In some part of her mind, Sakura was hoping it wasn't, because then that meant she was dead. Half-slumped on the ground like her last breath had been spent struggling to stand, the twisted corpse lay face down so Sakura was unable to see her eyes. Those amber, hard eyes. It would be terrible to see such a strong person be numbed by death forever.

_Death is inevitable, silly. Hasn't anyone told you that?_

Sakura approached with soft steps, hardly daring to wish and hardly daring to breathe.

She didn't notice as she passed a scrap of dark fabric stained (not with blood) but with a red pattern in the shape of a cloud; so focused Sakura was on her task to remain silent. But really, what's the use of that when the person you're trying to sneak up on is already gone?

Shiny weapons glinted off the roads, and another scrap of fabric—brilliantly orange—was strewn near the side of the alleyway. Sakura took no heed of this, startling only when a small wail started somewhere nearby. A child was crying.

That propelled her into motion, scrabbling at the body—is it Chiyoko? Please no please no _(but why are you saying no? She wanted to kill you)—_and twisting it around.

Her heart, supposedly long deadened but still beating ferociously, fell.

It was Chiyoko, no doubt about it. Her eyes were closed, a small comfort, and her brown hair spread limply across the once indifferent face, now lax in the eternal peaceful afterlife. But that was the extent of the 'good part'.

Her body was crumpled in on itself, one arm cradled to her chest. A quick inspection showed that the bone was broken cleanly, indicating a strong force. Her legs were fine…and then came the ghastly part. She was eviscerated—sliced in the middle through her stomach, red liquid and other unmentionable parts showing through. This was the blood Sakura had smelled. The sharp tang was even clearer here, though some of the blood was already drying in the rare Amegakure sunlight.

Sakura closed her eyes for a second, silently thinking a small prayer to help Chiyoko along. Even though she was an enemy, certainly not someone to be trusted, she deserved as much of a prayer as the next person. Because in the end, they were all just people, all transient flitting lives that stayed no longer than a blink in a demon's eye. They were all human, some parts of themselves, and nobody deserved to die like she did.

Done with her small prayer (even though she stopped believing in any god after Naruto left), Sakura stood. After a second thought she bent down and arranged Chiyoko in a position that portrayed a sleeping person, managing to neatly cover the gaping wound and broken arm. It was a task that she had found useful when arranging funerals.

Sakura stared down at the woman whose real name they had never known and never would for a moment longer, feeling like she was missing something. Was there another injury she had overlooked? Unlikely…

Still, she bent down, examining the woman's face again. It was ashy pale and the lips were turning blue, making the corpse seem like a zombie. The eyelids were dark and hollowed—and then, Sakura felt a sudden flash of inspiration. She reached out a strangely trembling hand and slowly lifted one eyelid. It parted without hesitation.

Instantly, she slipped the eyelid shut again, stumbling back from the body. Her hands accidentally brushed against her half-skirt, leaving red stains many times darker than her namesake.

Sakura clenched her eyes shut, pressing her bloody hands to her chest and probably leaving more stains. Good thing they had invented detergent that washed out blood.

Hesitantly opening both eyes after a while, Sakura refused to look back on the body, as if just looking at it would bring the Akatsuki member's wrath back on her. And that was definitely something she wanted to avoid at all costs—nobody wanted to face Itachi. Somewhere deep in Sasuke's heart, he was probably reluctant too.

Itachi was like a god. Undefeatable with a reputation made of gold and riddled with holes.

Sakura shook her head, shaking the thoughts of Akatsuki _(and a moment ago, you said you wanted to face them. Idiot girl, _whispered the 'Inner Sakura' voice in her mind_) _and the glazed over look in Chiyoko's eyes from her head. She had seen enough genjutsu to know the signs of it; glazed eyes, stock-still body, usually an emotionless look on the victim's face. Chiyoko had been put in a genjutsu before she died, and the only logical choice was Itachi.

She surreptitiously glanced over her shoulder, feeling a cold trickle dance down her spine _(just a breeze, nothing more) _before staring hard at the sky. Almost an hour surely must have passed, and she was too late to do anything. Time to go back…home.

Bowing her head once in the direction of the dead woman, Sakura flashed away, wondering how she could possibly break the news to Sai.

She put the death away into her heart once again. She became the killing machine that a ninja is once again.

And as she left, a pair of blue-purple-red eyes stared after her, eyes constantly shifting just the tiniest bit from red to indigo, as if the owner couldn't decide who to let in charge. They blinked once before glancing toward the dead body, the woman who had wanted to capture him. How death changed people; how it put out the spark that only humans had.

Naruto stood in a fluid movement, smirking in a move that might have been his or the Kyuubi's, knowing that Sakura had sensed him but hadn't known who it was. His chakra was too different, probably, for her to guess it out anymore.

"Now," he muttered, having watched the events before the killing, "to follow Sasuke and make sure he doesn't do anything drastic. I do have a promise to keep, after all…"

_The last promise I will ever keep._

* * *

><p>The best way of answering a question one doesn't really want to answer is to attack.<p>

Foolish, yes. Headstrong, yes. Stupid, without a doubt. Question answered? Usually.

Sasuke blurred as he raced toward Itachi, fueled by hate and rage and fury that had been stewing for far too long. He hadn't moved this fast in—ever. He hadn't felt this good, this confident, this _coordinated _in a long time. It was as if his every muscle responded before his brain even ordered the command. On instinct, they knew who the enemy was and on instinct, they would fight to kill him.

Itachi on the other hand remained perfectly still. Statue still; he scarcely seemed to breathe. It was only when Sasuke attacked him did he finally move and even then it was at the last second. To the common observer's eye (though there was only one right now) it was as if Itachi hesitated, for the briefest second.

_Can I finally stop living? Would it be better to succumb to death?_

But the great Itachi never hesitates, not once. Not when he was killing his family, his kin and his blood. Not when he was tracking down jinchuuriki and wanted men, slaughtering them without a second thought. Not when he joined Akatsuki and worked for murderers; not when he was ordered to betray his friends and work behind his clan's back. Itachi never hesitated, not because he's a genius or a fool, but because he simply knew when to wait.

Sasuke, unfortunately, had never learned such a lesson.

He was always too quick to react, fuse too short to let it blow out before the spark hit the explosion.

Itachi didn't bother retaliating against Sasuke. He simply moved from his attacks, swaying like a cobra to the music. Sasuke, because he didn't know when to wait and he didn't know patience, continued attacking with more and more ill-begotten ire.

Itachi still didn't strike back, expression cool and indifferent and detached and the tiniest bit condescending and caustic and just plain _Itachi. _It was hard to match his unique expression. Impossible, even.

Chiyoko stood aside from the fray, a very good idea since once, a kunai came whistling out of the macabre black and red whirlwind, and it embedded itself almost two feet into the wall behind her. She hoped dryly that whoever lived in the house wouldn't care, if they hadn't been woken already…then again, in this part of the town (and this was precisely why she picked this area) the houses were slummy and the nights were dangerous at best. The fanciest shop around the particular part of her hideout was a rundown fried noodle stand.

Sighing—something Chiyoko rarely lowered herself to doing—she prepared to do the ultimate 'forbidden' jutsu: the teleportation technique.

It was nothing special in reality. Nothing more than a simple chunin-level jutsu that allowed the user to flicker from one area to another in the space of a millisecond.

Yet, for Chiyoko, it was most definitely forbidden. It was not a platitude jutsu, something she used everyday. In fact, if she had to rate it, it would probably be used in a once in a decade sort of jutsu. Rare. Because above all things, Chiyoko is a ninja, a rogue one that does not follow the rules, and the rule dictate that one must flee when in immense danger. It is more than pride; it is her sin.

So Chiyoko fled in this situation _(she had already used her zombie scroll)_…because to anyone, everyone, survival is at the forefront of the human mind.

And she might have gotten away with it too.

If, of course, Uchiha Itachi hadn't chosen to interfere.

In a split second, she found herself pinned to the wall, arm twisted uncomfortably above her head, almost at a breaking point. Glaring red eyes in wide pinwheels spun inches from her face, and without a second's hesitation those beguiling eyes transformed into the dreaded Mangekyou Sharingan, trapping her in the endless hours of torture.

Sasuke found himself suddenly bereft of a partner when he slipped and nearly stumbled on the rough ground, having swung too hard. Spinning and tensed, he scanned the area to see if Itachi was trying to launch a sneak attack.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, he forgot that not everyone always goes along with whatever he was thinking. The vanity must come with the eyes, those red cursed eyes, one could say.

"Sasuke!" a voice yelled from his right, loud but hoarse.

Sasuke whipped his head around. A lesser man—or a man who didn't have a demon inside him (for he had long grown used to said demon's hateful glares)—might have cowered away. Naruto was no such person.

"Found you." The words were simple. Naruto was in a somewhat dramatic crouch, like he was an animal of some sort. The only thing not-simple about him was his eyes.

_It was always the eyes._

"I didn't need to be found," Sasuke growled back, turning away from his 'ally' or whatever Naruto was. Seeing him only brought up memories that Nakami had forced back on him; memories of being saved by anyone, everyone; memories of being helpless and staring as Itachi slaughtered his whole clan…his whole everything.

_I didn't need to be saved, _was what he probably should have said.

Naruto gazed for a moment at Sasuke's impassive back. Was he supposed to feel terror now? Anger? Sadness? Happiness? What? Why couldn't anyone ever tell him? Sometimes, the only thing Naruto regretted was not having the answers to a question. It scratched at his nerves insistently.

_**The only reason you can't answer your own questions is because you don't have the ability to. You decided your own limit, and this is what you determined. **_

To Naruto's surprise, the Kyuubi sounded almost… nice. Well, maybe that was putting it too gently. Such a monster could never be called 'nice' unless you were considered insane. No, perhaps the Nine-tails wasn't being nice, but he was being nicer than usual. Which was saying something, considering his recent treatment of Naruto.

_What will you gain from giving me _advice_? _Naruto asked, emphasizing the word advice because it sounded so foreign. When had it become like this? He used to long for advice, he used to give it, he used to help…

For the first time in however many years—months—days, he felt a strange feeling bubble up behind his chest. It made his stomach ache a little and his head hurt even more. Naruto struggled to catalogue the feelings—what was it? Reminiscing? Wishing?

Longing?

Then the Kyuubi roared, loud and fearsome and utterly erasing any of Naruto's thoughts, all except one.

Some tiny part of Naruto (and don't ask how he knew this) clung to the feelings, the longing, the wishing, the dreaming that he used to know but was now as foreign as 'advice', and sealed himself away in a place not even the Kyuubi could reach. It felt like a safe place.

_Like a mother's loving kiss or a father's warm embrace._

The Kyuubi roared again, and Naruto was forced to pay attention to the greedy irritated demon.

_**It isn't advice, you insipid little moron, **_the Kyuubi hissed, bright (in a feverish, mad way) eyes rolled almost in silent laughter. That was how absurd the idea was to the Nine-tails fox.

_Pray tell, what is it? _There was that rare use of sarcasm again.

The Kyuubi didn't deign to reply. As usual. Their conversations weren't so much tête-à-têtes as a short, usually somewhat one-sided argument.

Naruto blinked to find a drastically different scene displayed before him.

Sasuke had disappeared, no doubt cloaked protectively in a genjutsu spell Naruto couldn't identify. The main attraction was right in front of him though—movements almost too fast to discern: Itachi and Chiyoko, battling it out.

The latter was breathing heavily from multiple exertions, her eyes still somewhat unfocused. Her arm was held at an awkward angle that looked painful; it was broken, he realized. Itachi, on the other hand, didn't have a single scratch on him. It was already clear to Naruto who the winner of this lopsided battle would be. And, he was almost sad to note, it would not be Chiyoko, strong as she was.

In the end, the Uchiha was always stronger.

Naruto closed his eyes, not really wanting to observe such a brutal and merciless killing. He'd already killed dozens before, so what was another one? A stupid question _(and another one you can't answer)._

Silence suddenly fell like a thick and heavy cloak on the alleyway. Naruto peered through narrowed eyes to see Chiyoko standing stock still, Itachi with one arm held straight out to his side. Another genjutsu, huh. As expected. Naruto just wondered what exactly Itachi was waiting for; he wasn't disappointed.

As he brought his arm downward in an arc, a flash of metal, shining and silver, swung out of the Akatsuki sleeve. Naruto had never known where the sword-users and Pein kept their weapons, or how it didn't just fall out, but he couldn't take his eyes off the mesmerizing arc even as blood spattered the floor. A dull sound was heard as Chiyoko fell.

Itachi slowly lowered the blade, wiping it distinctly on his cloak before tossing it away, purpose obviously served. He turned. It was then Naruto realized he hadn't even redirected his gaze, much less bothered to hide.

And despite the fact that this was a monster, a killer, someone who probably murdered for fun while having a totally blank expression on his face, someone who was _chasing _Naruto for something inside him, Naruto didn't flinch. Red clashed with red for a brief, long second... before Itachi turned away. Just turned away. And Naruto felt cheated.

"Where are you going?"

It wasn't Naruto who voiced the question (even though he wanted to know the answer too, very much) but Sasuke, loud and commanding. He hadn't used this almost brash, overconfident tone of voice since Naruto had teamed up with him. It was like Itachi brought out a whole other side of him—the killing side, the one that wanted revenge and a goal. The lonely side.

Nobody else could ever reach that side.

And that was the absolute fact.

"My hatred has by far grown strong enough," Sasuke continued, landing halfway between Naruto and Itachi. "You will finally die, _brother._ As you should have all those years ago."

_I will finally surpass you… _

But nobody ever asks, what will become of you then?

"A battle would be pleasant," Itachi agreed. Naruto could already hear the _'but' _coming after. "But I'm afraid that would simply take far too long. I have completed my task here and there is no point in lingering further; so for now, we bade good-bye again, little brother."

"You're just running away again!" Sasuke shouted, sounding not-quite-right in the head. It must be an Uchiha thing, Naruto resolved. "Like always. Are excuses the only thing I will ever be worth for in your eyes?" he spat, rage shining through his every body movement and features. But it was no use yelling, for Itachi was already gone, dissipating in a cloud of black ravens.

Naruto had always either been exceptionally good at noticing little details or extraordinarily good at being oblivious to them. This time, there was something strange about the way Itachi had departed, besides the whole cloud of ravens and all. Naruto could've sworn he had whispered something—but then again, he had no Sharingan so he could be no judge.

And why in the world would Itachi say, _'The only tears an Uchiha can cry are tears of blood'_? It didn't make sense.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, Itachi had indeed said something else after that.

"You should save your life for someone else, Sasuke. I don't deserve your hatred, but one day you will understand I had to do this to make you strong. You were too fragile to survive in the harsh world of the shinobi." Itachi closed his eyes, savoring the silence before opening them to find himself in Pein's tower.

_It was for your sake I sacrificed everything._

"Sasuke…"

Understandably, Naruto was hesitant to approach the Uchiha. His bowed head and tense, almost shaking shoulders were a clear sign that he was riled up and not to be approached. Yet he wasn't known for his loss of control either, as Sasuke deftly showed now.

When he looked up, his eyes were clear but harsh in its anger, carefully reined in. He even had to rein in his fury as to not show weakness.

"Let's go." His reply was short.

"Just leave here?"

"No. I am staying…to finish what my brother cannot do. He is a coward." Naruto didn't miss the emphasis on the _I_. Sasuke didn't care what Naruto chose to do, obviously displayed when he vanished away in a black whirlwind of smoke.

Naruto wanted to sigh. He risked a short glance at Chiyoko, somewhat glad the battle was over. He wasn't a coward. He just had had too many fights. Enough to last a lifetime.

When he was about to leave too (and track down his stupid, stubborn shadow of a partner) Naruto froze. There was something coming, too quick and too hasty. On instinct, he leaped onto a roof nearby. Something made him squat down to stay and watch whoever was coming, barely feeling the strangely comforting warmth of the sun on his back.

It was a mistake to stay. He knew that immediately, the second he saw pink hair dart out of the tunnel.

Sakura.

She left almost an hour later—a time that he wished was longer but so much shorter at the same time.

Why didn't his past ever stop haunting him?

Or was it trying to tell him something?

* * *

><p><strong>My Internet's being stupid now too. Will I never have a perfectly functional computer? Gah. Anyway, thanks for everyone's reviews and favoritesalerts! I'm glad you enjoy this story and hope you still read it in the future…till I finish it… o_o So far away!**

**Um, please review? :3 Free cookies? (Oh I wish) um, I suppose I'll see you all next Thursday, or whenever everyone reads this! Ja!**

**TBC!**

**P.S. I'm killing all my OCs, aren't I? Except Nakami, she's still alive- but not for long! Ahahahaha! …Just kidding, no spoilers for you. But hey, look at this, is Naruto making a comeback from his 'all Kyuubi-fied' mind? Is Sakura becoming more insane or is she slowly becoming who she was again? Is Sasuke bent on revenge now that he's seen Itachi? And what is Akatsuki's next move?**

**Okay, that was fun. Now! Answers = next week! :D Review! *demands***


	32. Chapter Thirty

**A/N: Now officially only 1 week till the winter holidays! –rejoices- Although I have to suffer through a week of exams before I can get there… :( The song from the first quote this time can be applied to any character from Naruto, I think. Well, almost any. And lol, if you haven't noticed, I put this story under suspense too. Perhaps action?**

**And Madara is becoming increasingly frustrating to write. He's supposed to be more intelligent and calm, but you know what? He's insane in my story! Ha! Well, yeah… also the minor problem that his character is becoming increasingly AU, since he's technically *spoiler* not even Madara! He's nobody! Gah. *end***

**Disclaimer: You know what I want for Christmas? (and no, it's not Naruto this time!) I want world domination. Wouldn't that be a wonderful Christmas present? Then perhaps I can get the giant orange fuzzball to help me raze everything to the ground… ahahahaha! Although Naruto will be mine too, eventually. It's only natural, since I'm taking over the world, right? (wow long disclaimer)**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Thirty<strong>

_I'm all alone, you're far away/I never learned from my mistakes/I should have known just what to say/To make you wanna stay. You were always the one giving/I was always there to take it… And I'll never make it without you/I need a second chance/'Cause I wanna make it about you/I'll make it my last stand… Now I'm afraid it's too late to save again. _–lyrics from _Last Stand, _by Adelitas Way

_There's a monster in everyone. Some people are just better at being oblivious to its presence. _–_Cure My Tragedy, _by Chevira Lowe

The wind tore softly at Tsunade's clothes as she stared thoughtfully at the deceptively cloudy sky, looming and threatening to cry. Any moment now, she was waiting for the first drop to fall; yet she continued to walk along the near deserted street.

It was strange to see Konoha so empty when it should've been a healthy, bustling afternoon, Tsunade reflected. Where had all the people gone? Maybe they just wanted to shelter from the storm. It was logical—something anyone would do.

Tsunade held a hand absent-mindedly up to the side of her face, preventing her hair from blowing back in the sudden onslaught of wind. As it was, her green coat billowed around her haphazardly. She was alone in venturing out today. Shizune had abandoned her to do some hospital oriented work, something Tsunade too would usually enjoy, if not for a persistent, nagging feeling that something was going to happen today. Besides, Shizune had taken a much larger interest in helping the patients on the verge of death, after she had almost died in Pein's attack. The Hokage had no interest in helping everyone, kind-hearted as she was.

Sighing, Tsunade stopped pondering her pupil's strange habits in favor of staring into the Academy's schoolyard, where she had accidently wandered to.

Despite the somewhat gloomy day, kids were still being kids and chased each other around the yard, playing during recess. Tsunade wished she was still a kid sometimes.

Who would've thought being Hokage took so much effort? And so much paperwork?

No wonder Jiraiya turned it down.

Tsunade felt a small smile appear on her lips at the mention of her late teammate. No doubt he was mocking her now from his place in the afterlife, enjoying…ogling…his fellow dead spirits and probably writing more spiritually enlightening dirty novels. Jiraiya had always been something else.

She turned away, managing to disappear down the road before one of the children stopped her. Her feet unconsciously found a path winding toward the gates of Konoha. It was only when she was about to cross the threshold out of her village when she realized where she was.

"Hokage-sama!"

Tsunade looked over, seeing Shiranui Genma and Namiashi Raidou. They were familiar faces, as they had been on her special guard squad for years, and the Third's before that, despite not joining ANBU. Formidable fighters, both of them.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" Genma asked from his perch behind the wooden stall of the guard's station. The visitors' book was spread before Raidou; only a few names were scrawled in for today. Tsunade strolled over to take a small glance at the book and see if anyone important decided to drop by today without informing her. It wasn't like she had anything better to do, and her instincts were warning her to stay here.

"I decided to go for a walk," Tsunade informed him as she leaned over to inspect the book. A merchant, a visiting healer from Suna, a small non-shinobi family…

"I'd have thought you would've been at the hospital," Genma continued, a faint note of surprise in his voice. "Didn't you hear—"

Tsunade stared at the new name that had cropped up unexpectedly. What? When had they returned? Why hadn't anyone _told _her? "What's this?" she shouted, slamming her hand down onto the visitors' book.

"—and Sai have returned from their… what?" Genma said, confused at the sudden interruption.

"We assumed you already knew, Hokage-sama," Raidou filled in quickly. He glanced at the papers and time. "They returned almost an hour ago, in fact." That turned out to be a mistake.

"They returned an _hour _ago?And no one bothered to _tell me?_! This is one of the top Chunin teams in Konoha we're talking about! My student!" Tsunade took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. It wouldn't do to accidentally destroy their new guardhouse, after it was replaced only three months ago when a particularly heavy training session between Lee and Gai knocked it down. They paid for the cost of the wood, at least.

"Well…" Genma sounded lost. Nobody liked to face an angry Hokage, much less an angry, volatile, monster-strength female Hokage that went by the name of Tsunade. No, definitely not.

Tsunade shook her head, despairing for the shinobi of the later generations. If this was how they would all turn out, then Konoha was doomed. She looked back at the two jounins again, barking, "So where are they?"

"They? Oh—uh, Shizune-san came by earlier to usher them into the hospital."

_Shizune was in on this too? _Tsunade narrowed her eyes. She needed to have a word with her assistant. Wasn't she supposed to be working with Tsunade? Not off helping at the hospital all the time? She heaved a sigh, feeling irritation build up behind her chest. She hoped that Sakura's team wasn't hurt, at least.

The two jounin breathed a silent sigh of relief when Tsunade began to walk angrily off only to stiffen when she abruptly turned and pointed straight at them. "You two! You're assigned to guard duty for two more weeks."

Genma and Raidou were gaping long after the wind quieted down and Tsunade made her departure. The only one to speak at last was Genma.

"S-she assigned us for more guard duty? For not _asking _her to come by so we can tell her about the people who passed by Konoha today? She's going insane!"

"If she wasn't already," Raidou added, sighing as both slumped down. If they were stuck here for two more weeks, might as well get comfortable.

Tsunade stormed into the hospital, scaring a nurse-in-training and causing people to scatter back from the fearsome woman with an aura of death radiating around her. Today just hadn't been a good day from the start, the Fifth Hokage reflected. First that bad feeling, then pacing around (in the cold!) for another hour, and finally learning Sakura's team was back and in the hospital no less from some imbecile jounins.

She slammed her hands down on the receptionist's desk—something she was prone to do in anger—and demanded, "Tell me the location of Haruno Sakura's team's room! Now!" The receptionist took one look at the furious Hokage and caved, quickly flipping through her notes.

"Ah, Hokage-sama... they're in rooms C1A and C1B…" She hadn't even finished speaking before Tsunade was off again like a yellow-and-green whirlwind.

Tsunade might be getting a 'little' old in her years, but never underestimate anyone's temper. It could get you killed.

Sakura was humming softly to herself as she held her chakra-encased hand up to her arm, where a stray bruise was. Her room was quiet and undisturbed, painted a nondescript blue with pale yellow curtains that highlighted a nice, citizen-friendly view of Konoha. The bed she was sitting on was ordinary and plain, a refreshing change from the rollercoaster her life had been for the past week.

Unfortunately for the pink-haired kunoichi, her world was about to get turned upside down again by her former mentor, who came bursting wildly into the room not a second later.

"Sakura!" Tsunade's voice held an undeniable note of relief. It made Sakura look up quizzically, finishing healing herself. Shizune had ordered her to heal herself since she'd only had some superficial scrapes and cuts, nothing really serious unlike Sai who had been hiding the fact that he'd sprained his wrist the whole time.

"Shishou?" Sakura blinked, standing. She was the same height as Tsunade now, a part of her noticed. A bigger part though was moaning at the ache in her calves. They'd run nonstop after cutting into the Land of Fire, going straight to where Konoha was situated. Their mission had been scheduled to end, Yamato informed them _(after the mission was over!) _two days ago. One would've thought he would remember such important information and help them speed along the process, but no, he forgot.

Speaking of Yamato and Sai… "Are they fine now?" she asked, forgetting that Tsunade probably didn't even know who she was talking about.

"Why didn't you tell me you came back?" Tsunade fired in reply. "You were supposed to be back two days ago or more! Do you know how much Shikamaru has been pestering me about it?"

"Shikamaru?" Sakura twisted her face. Why did that lazy kid bother to ask the _Hokage _about their mission? He never had a motive for anything, unless it was avenging Asuma or something equally heroic.

"He did it for Ino," Tsunade amended, "because she was pestering him, but that's beside the point." She sighed, massaging her temple lightly. "Sorry, today just has been a strange day. Any injuries?"

"No." Sakura shook her head, relieved to be falling back into a normal routine. Some days, she just didn't know what to expect around her former mentor anymore. Tsunade changed attitudes quicker than a typhoon could hit, appearing out of thin air before changing to some other equally bipolar mood. Permanent PMS-ing, perhaps.

Then she instantly felt guilty about thinking about her Hokage like that. It wasn't Tsunade's fault! Anyone would crack under all the pressure a leader had to go through. Right? Besides, she'd told herself that as soon as she got back alive, she would make amends with Tsunade. So that was what she was going to do. Sakura lifted her eyes determinedly, words already beginning to tumble from her mouth.

Tsunade stopped her with a hug.

Sakura, despite being the legendary slug/monster-strength/terrifying Tsunade sannin's pupil for a good three years had not been (thankfully) on the receiving end of her hugs very often. She had heard the rumors though, and had thanked her lucky stars the only time she'd ever been 'hugged' was when she'd killed that old man.

The rumors were not a lie, she discovered. Since she was almost the same height as her mentor, Sakura could at least breathe, but her ribs felt like they were cracking on arm pressure alone. And she'd just healed all her bruises too! Great.

Still, this seemed like an ideal time to mend their somewhat torn relationship. So on that note, Sakura let Tsunade hug her for a mere three seconds before releasing her, stepping back. "I'm just glad you're okay."

There was an almost desolate expression on Tsunade's face that was quickly wiped away before Sakura could properly identify it. But she didn't need to see Tsunade's face or read her eyes to know what she was thinking, what she was talking about. If she had gone through as many deaths as Tsunade did, she doubted she would have the strength to remain standing, let alone leader of a great village.

Tsunade merely didn't want to lose anyone else anymore.

Who was Sakura to deny such a thing?

"I'm sorry," Sakura said simply, trusting that Tsunade would understand. And she did, smiling one of those true smiles that always brought a lighter air into the room. Tsunade rarely smiled like that anymore, unlike those wistful days of Team Kakashi.

"Well, I'm going to check up on Sai and Yamato," Tsunade sighed, running a hand through one of her pigtails. She shook her head, muttering, "Knowing Sai, he probably did something else."

"Sprained his wrist, but Shizune's working on it," Sakura recited.

"I knew it." The Fifth Hokage of Konoha threw her hands up in the air. She was about to leave when she paused, one hand on the doorframe. "Sakura… I know you probably want to see your friends and teammates, but as a doctor and your mentor I'm saying it's probably better for _you _to go home. Get some rest."

_Forget._

"…Yes, Tsunade-sama."

Fifteen minutes later, Sakura had released herself from the hospital when she deemed she was fit and healthy, and found herself staring at the plain wooden door of her house. Shame filled her to remember—well, try and remember—the last time she'd actually visited home. It wasn't like she didn't _come _home, no she did, it was just she never stayed home. Missions had filled her life (or maybe she'd filled them with missions on purpose) because sometimes…

Sometimes, it was just better to forget. Better to distance yourself, as to not lose anyone else ever again.

Sakura wanted to hit herself for ever thinking that way. What was she trying to accomplish? If anything, Naruto and Sasuke's departures had taught her it was better to cherish what she had. Too soon, things left. Time stopped for nobody.

_Besides, isn't it better to have loved and lost than never loved at all?_

Sakura breathed in deeply, wondering why she was so scared of her own house. The house she'd grown up in, the house she had thought as a safe sanctuary, safe from the world. Of course, it was technically a different house now, after Pein's attack had destroyed it, but it was still relatively the same concept. It was home. And she never should have left it.

Hesitantly, she knocked on the door, realizing a bit late that she had been standing like an idiot in front of her own house for a good five minutes. And now she was _knocking _on her _door _like an idiot. Sakura felt her face flame.

At the same exact moment, the door flew open. Her mother stood there, eyes wide and mouth trembling. It incited equal feelings of disgust—being a shinobi, feelings weren't welcomed—and sorrow. Had she really, truly been gone so long that just the mere sight of her brought her mother near tears? Was this the same girl that had once cherished the thought of family, love, security?

Well, no. Of course not. That girl had been trampled on too many times, and had been smashed out of existence.

This new girl in her place, though…

Sakura stepped forward, smiling softly. "Mother?"

"Sakura!" She was crushed in a hug, so different from Tsunade's but so much the same. Both were like mother figures to Sakura; only one though was her real mother, and she had forgotten that important fact.

"I'm here," she whispered into her mother's hair, closing her eyes. _I'm staying. I'm home._

…that new girl in her place didn't need a lot of love. She'd been hurt so many times before, but when rebuilt, anyone can become beautiful. A new start.

And that new girl that she had become could learn to appreciate what she had.

Who knew when it would be yanked away from you, from one moment to the next?

* * *

><p>Naruto sighed, slumping down on the ground.<p>

He wasn't tired by any rate; he rarely got tired any more. The Kyuubi supplied stamina as well as chakra, though sometimes both had to be coerced out by Naruto when the fox was feeling particularly unwilling. It was just mental exhaustion he was dealing with.

For one thing, the Kyuubi continued to rampage inside his head—not any more than usual, of course, but the usual level of annoyance the Nine-tails brought was bad enough on a daily basis. Then there was the whole 'attempt-to-find-Sasuke' sort of thing. So he was around Amegakure. That just left a whole forest and a half to search, not to mention that the Uchiha might have even just stayed in Amegakure.

_**He wouldn't, **_the Kyuubi stated confidently, smug at the world. _**He's an Uchiha, like you said. Besides, it's in the nature of any **_**smart **_**shinobi to scout around the site, not directly in the hands of their enemy. It was a stupid move to even go into that bar in the first place!**_

_Well you weren't exactly helping, _Naruto retorted, distinctly recalling the almost prissy air the Kyuubi had put up when he'd asked for advice. Like it would kill the fox to say a word without his own will!

Naruto allowed himself to grit his teeth angrily, standing up in a huff and stomping out the dew from his shoes. The morning grass was still damp and wet in the forest, albeit a little frozen because of the winter temperatures, but it was still annoyingly damp. Naruto scrunched his eyes closed again, performing what he'd been doing before he decided to take a short, well-deserved break.

He put his fingers together in a familiar seal, concentrating on taking in nature chakra. It was easier to go into sage mode, he'd decided only a little while before, and then pinpoint Sasuke's chakra. So much easier than combing every tree and boulder in the forest.

Naruto had gathered an impressive amount before he stopped, opening his eyes. Sage mode just increased his chakra and ability to fight by a perpetual amount—which led to the question why he didn't just use it earlier—but there was a limit to the power he could contain. There was a limit to everything, perhaps with the exception of the Kyuubi's chakra, but surely there was an extent to that too. Naruto had yet to test it out.

"Accomplished," he murmured aloud, adjusting to the sunny atmosphere again. It was strangely—_eerily_—silent in these woods. Maybe it was just that the animals were all hibernating, but Naruto suspected it was more than that. A man-made cause. A shinobi-made cause.

It didn't matter anyway. Naruto didn't need the animals, he needed to find Sasuke. Closing his eyes again, he focused on the different chakras swirling around him—which weren't many, truth be told. Just a few small insects and plants, no mammals, until…

There.

It was unmistakable, that chakra, dark, cold and omnipotent and swirling and screaming 'Uchiha'. Not so far a distance from here too. Immediately Naruto took to the scant, leafless trees, the branches feeling brittle under his feet.

It was only a few minutes before Naruto reached his ally's campsite, if one could call it that.

There was nothing to speak of that showed signs of inhabitation; no houses (why would there be?), no food, no fire. Just an empty grass clearing. Then, where was Sasuke? Naruto detected that chakra clearer than ever, bubbling and chilly.

_**A genjutsu, perhaps, idiot. He would be the kind to set traps…**_ the Kyuubi's muses faded away as Naruto did the seal that would release a genjutsu. He felt the Kyuubi's chakra stir in response, helping him along.

"I knew you would come," came the deep, arrogant voice. Naruto's eyes flicked up briefly, catching a sight of black and gray before Sasuke dropped in front of him. He still looked quite…mad.

Then again, it's a mad world outside the safe boundaries of Konoha. Naruto probably looked like the devil.

"Staying so close to Amegakure? Are you stupid?" Naruto bluffed, stepping inside the threshold. The world bubbled strangely around the barrier he'd just crossed, forming a clear, almost glassy, flexible shield around the clearing. Like a one-sided illusion mirror. "And I'd have thought you would have put up ten times the traps."

"Traps are a nuisance," Sasuke muttered, turning away. His back was tense, still strung-up from the Itachi run-in, most likely. Fatigue was pulling at his limbs too, Naruto noticed; they never had had a chance to recover from the Chiyoko incident either. There wasn't a Chiyoko to worry about now, at least.

"How so?" Naruto tried to make small talk, idling nearby. What was he supposed to do? Ask, _'Oh I hear you're in the mood for some Akatsuki hunting. There's already one down, let's try taking on Madara next.' _No, probably not.

Sasuke just looked at him blankly, clearly emanating the 'are you an idiot' vibes. The Kyuubi snorted heavily in his head.

_**Any skilled ninja knows when traps are prominent. If there are a lot of traps, genjutsu aside, that means that there's probably a ninja in proximity. Of course he wouldn't put up a lot of traps.**_

Normally Naruto would have argued his point, but this time he conceded. _Okay then, why did he just put one genjutsu up?_

That earned him another incredulous snort. Sure, asking the Kyuubi was preferable to asking Sasuke, but that didn't mean it was any less the humiliation. _**So he can see out in the world, moron! Surely, even you can see that… any danger, he flees. Coward,**_ he tacked on.

Oh. Well if it was that simple. Naruto felt a dry smirk twist onto his lips; he never had learned much at the Academy. Raising his eyes, he called, "So what are your plans now? March straight into the Akatsuki's tower and demand to face Itachi one on one? Even though Zetsu is gone, that doesn't mean Madara is any less dangerous." Not any, in fact. They still had Pein and his Paths and that girl and Madara himself, not to mention Itachi, the worst of them all. It was a train wreck waiting to happen.

_**It's still a fantastic opportunity though, **_the Kyuubi mulled, voice rumbling through Naruto's head. _**When will you ever see the Akatsuki gathered in one place again? Ripe for picking…**_

_Unfortunately, we all aren't three mountains tall like you _were_, _Naruto said somewhat nastily. It earned him the budding of a new headache, to his chagrin. He sighed, blinking open one eye much like that of a cat. His pupils were still longer than usual but the eye color itself had changed back to a dark indigo edging on red.

Sasuke hadn't replied yet, and it didn't appear as if he ever would. He sat back where he was in the first place, perched high on the tree, staring off into the distance. From that height, he could probably see the tallest towers of Amegakure barely scraping the blue sky. Naruto frowned, sitting on the grass with his usual lack of grace. He tore up a chunk of the grass, staring at it. He could always wait until Sasuke decided to respond, but that could take years…

Silence fell, something that seemed common among the two. Hadn't it always been bickering between them before? A constant stream of arguing, of fighting, of friendship, of teammates.

One left that behind, Naruto supposed, when you became a missing-nin and broke all the bonds you might ever have had.

His thoughts trailed—not for the first time in the past few weeks—over to Kakashi and Sakura. It hurt a little to think of the two, simply because one was gone forever (and a sensei's tie is something that is very hard to sear away, even for the Kyuubi) and the other was the first person he ever loved, liked, even if she had never liked him any more than a friend would in return. And then Sasuke, the one person he had never beaten but he still believed one day, he would.

_One day, he's going back to Konoha._

_Without me._

Because Naruto had goals, things he had to do. Things outside of Konoha, things that would never be allowed _in _Konoha because he would always be forced to live a confined life; because he was the jinchuuriki. He couldn't be more than that.

Sometimes, the bird has to break free of its cage to fly to its full capacity.

Now, Naruto was never a humble person by any means. He was always the blonde, hyperactive, loud, knucklehead, stubborn, troublemaker ninja, barely even fit to be called that. He didn't know when to curb his mouth, but somehow the words always twisted to fit the situation perfectly. He had a gift or a talent, some would say. Naruto merely considered it helping others.

_(He didn't do that so much anymore though.)_

No, Naruto could never be called humble, but he certainly knew when somebody was stronger than him. Someone so strong that it was probably impossible for him—ever—to beat. There were three people like that in his world; Tsunade, Kakashi, and Madara.

One of them was dead. One he didn't (if he was being truthful, didn't want to kill and probably would die before he got close) need to kill. And the last one was so close, the top enemy on Naruto's list. That one he had an obligation to kill. Destroy.

Wipe from the face of the earth, because Madara didn't deserve to live.

So just as Naruto knew he was and never could be considered humble; never smart, never clever or analytical, he did know his own limits. He knew just who he could face and the possibilities of winning against that person, but just because Madara was on his list of near impossible to defeat ninjas, that did not mean it was impossible. Determination can bring one far in their journey, and Naruto was determined to eradicate the masked man. His limits didn't matter. Only his goal _(his dream, his wish) _did.

Naruto would push himself past his limit if he had to.

No matter what the physical or mental consequences were for him.

**_If you want to kill Madara, then you have to have the mindset of a killer. You do not. More bloodthirsty than before, yes… but still, you are weak. Unwilling to shed needless blood. Sometimes you have the desire that I influence in you, but there is no _craving. _If you want to defeat Madara, much less kill him, you need to know to be ruthless. _**

_How am I supposed to become ruthless, then?_

The Kyuubi seemed pleased and amused at the same time, a near hypocrite act for the demon that should have had no feelings. _**How, you ask? That's a simple question…**_

No, Naruto suddenly identified as he found his mental self staring through the giant golden bars straight into the red-orange eyes of the Kyuubi. It wasn't pleasure or amusement. Far from it. It was more like...

_**I think the better way to say that is to ask how you want to learn to kill.**_

More like smugness. Evil, biting smugness because the demon knew what was going to come next, he could see the future like Kakashi-sensei used to, he _knew _what choice Naruto was going to make simply because he had no choice to make it—if he wanted to fulfill what he (somewhere in the depths of his mind, the one lone promise remained) had set out to do, that is.

Naruto could have stuck to making the demon's life—whatever little life he had, living Naruto's experiences and nothing more—miserable, acting stupid and idiotic and simply arguing about everything. But for once, he knew what he wanted. He knew what the Kyuubi meant.

_Tell me how. _

Three words could change a whole path all over again.

Ten minutes later, Naruto was flashing off through the trees again, away from Amegakure. He didn't have to look behind him to know that Sasuke was following, by his own free will or not. Probably the latter; what psychotic missing-nin wouldn't give up a free chance at slaughter? They'd already done it once, hadn't they?

Because that was exactly what the Kyuubi had ordered him to do. _'Want to become stronger, want to kill, then all you have to do is murder innocents…raze their village to the ground, and I guarantee it'll give you a lust for power and blood you've never experienced before…' _All that was followed by an insane sounding laugh. The Kyuubi had probably done precisely what he had told Naruto to before.

Murdering innocent. It just all sounded so strange, obscure. Impractical. And yet, here Naruto was, doing that very thing.

Murdering people who had never done anything wrong, had never committed a sin.

What had he become?

Naruto felt a grin tug at his lips, showing canines that were maybe the tiniest bit longer than usual. What had he become? He had become what he always had been; that side that was buried inside him (the one that had been submerged just a little more recently) had just been unearthed. A strange, dark feeling bloomed across his chest and a ratcheting noise clanged in his ears; he tasted metallic on his tongue, like he could feel the bloodshed already.

The dark side of him had awakened. The side that was in everyone; it was just more prominent in Naruto.

"How far is the next village?" Sasuke's cool, indifferent voice asked. There was no particular reason Sasuke had came along. Maybe he just wanted to kill too. There was the same cold, dark side residing in Sasuke, like any other human being. Any other shinobi.

"Oh, it's only a mile away." Naruto's fledgling grin become a full one, but his eyes held none of the same 'humor' in his smile. They were like unreflective pieces of glass now… like a doll, never to feel again. And he preferred it that way, or a part of him did at least.

"They'll never know what hit them."

* * *

><p>Heavy footsteps resounded and immediately, heads turned to face the entryway. Everybody knew who was approaching. If not from the distinctive chakra, then from the anger exuding. There was only one possible person who would be so angry…<p>

Uchiha Madara.

The door slammed open, ricocheting off the frame once before slamming shut again from the force that was used to open it. By then, Madara had already stormed inside and had taken his place at the head of the table.

"We need to talk," he said, low and furious.

"We do," Itachi agreed calmly from his spot further down the table. He leaned back in his chair, almost mocking his elder, eyes black and unreadable. Madara glanced at him once before focusing on every other person at the table, one by one: Pein, the Paths standing near the back of the room, and Konan. All three held equal expressionless features.

"How did Zetsu die?" Konan asked, breaking the tense silence. There was a distinctive quiet in the space that White Zetsu would normally occupy with his loud, crazy ramblings. Loathe as they were to admit it, Akatsuki had lost a valuable spy and a strong member. They didn't have time to find another replacement.

Time was the one thing that was always and forever would be against them.

"White Zetsu was charred to ashes by a certain meddlesome Konoha team," Madara growled, "while Black Zetsu was rather nastily killed by that jinchuuriki."

'That' jinchuuriki, of course, being Naruto. There was no other jinchuuriki left to speak of.

"We need to kill him." Pein stared somewhat unnervingly out the window. This tower they were meeting in was rather decorated (if that was the right word) in terms of banners, graffiti, and ornaments strung on strings. Pipes climbed like vines or snakes up the side of nearby buildings, while a steady roar of noise was coming from below. Amegakure and its residents were in the middle of an insurrection, uproar and all.

"Kill? I thought our goal was to incapacitate the Kyuubi vessel. Don't we need the fox demon?" Itachi folded his hands across his lap, creating the perfect illusion of an uncaring genius. However Madara saw through that illusion, and suspected treason in his mind.

He leaned forward, intent on bringing his suspicion clear to Itachi. As if it hadn't been clear the moment he had had a chance to talk with Itachi alone, after he'd joined. Still, it never hurt to remind him again that Madara was watching.

"We do, but if we kill him and bring his fresh corpse back, we can easily perform the ritual. The fox doesn't die until the human body absolutely gives up. A heartbeat stopping is only a façade, remember?" Madara felt his lips curl up into an invisible smirk no one else could see.

Itachi looked at Madara squarely, in that cool, demoralizing gaze that scared so many. Madara did not flinch. "Of course I remember. Are you accusing me?"

"No. Why would I?" Madara spread his hands, holding Itachi's silent glare for a moment longer before turning to Pein. "Now, on other notes… any information on the rebellion occurring in your beloved village right now?"

Pein was silent for a moment. Itachi almost wished that he _would _say something, derogatory if need be, to Madara. Something instead of being like an emotionless puppet, unable to think and act on his own, but then again, that was what this Path was. Paths were just puppets in total for Nagato.

"It is most definitely caused by the death of Chiyoko," Pein said at last. Perhaps Nagato was conveying the data to his Path; no doubt Konan had left a clone (if she wasn't there by her friend's side) to guard and aid Nagato. "Whatever was left of her supporters scattered when she died, unsure of what to do. They're causing havoc in the streets right now; my ninjas are having some difficulty constraining their panic. The normal villagers are also reacting to their fear, and that in total is creating what we see below. A rebellion of some sort."

"Then it is time, isn't it, to depart?" Madara strode over to the windows, looking coldly out. The other Akatsuki members, never having been those to talk in the first place, stared blankly. They were only following orders, after all.

"But go where?"

"Good question, Itachi…" Madara turned, the strange sunny light casting shadows over his mask. They flickered carelessly as he moved. "We only have one last destination in mind, don't we?"

"Capture the final jinchuuriki." This time, Pein answered. Konan looked vaguely—the tiniest bit—apprehensive at his words. This hadn't been the exact purpose Akatsuki was constructed for, but who was she to rebel? In the end, weren't they all still getting what they wanted, each and every one of them? World peace, world domination, the last battle, they were all getting what they had bargained for. The method of getting there didn't matter so much then.

"Correct." Normally, being Madara and who he was, he might have incorporated some of that trademark 'strangeness' (i.e. un-Uchiha-like gleefulness) in that one word. But today, something had happened. They had lost a valuable member and there was an even smaller chance of completing their goal; and because of that, Madara treated this meeting with the utmost seriousness.

_He wanted what every human wants. Power._

"And do you know how we accomplish that? What is the one thing _Naruto _says he wants? You all know. He left Konoha for one thing: protect his comrades. That dream has been turned around by the very demon we are trying to capture! He has been corrupted as every demon can do, to the very core. His new goal is to destroy Konoha." No, there was a gleefulness in his words, all right—a mad gleefulness.

Itachi watched Madara's almost crazy eyes with a disinterested expression. His fool of a relative was too enraptured by power and all the madness it brought; he knew that feeling very well, in reality. The dizzying feeling of total control…

_(slaughtering killing murdering)_

But some part of him (the humane part) had rejected it. He could have had it all, really; he could have destroyed Konoha utterly and completely without a second's hesitation. Destroyed all the women and all the children and all the men. They would have been powerless against him and Madara—but that was Madara's dream. It was his, and that was why Itachi was not Madara.

He had something else in mind.

He wanted to help save Konoha, not destroy it.

So it was understandable that it was a minor glitch in his plans when Madara announced that Naruto had his eyes on Konoha, and not in a good way either. How was this supposed to work now? Itachi had no influence on Sasuke. He couldn't get him to return, not when he had specifically _encouraged _his revenge.

He needed Naruto for that (he'd used Naruto for that), like the god who commands the mortal to do the things he has no ability to do.

But if Naruto were to destroy Konoha… Itachi might have to reconsider everything. He might have to take on the Kyuubi itself, because the demon was behind everything. It was for the sake of the world, quite literally.

While one side of him was masterminding—or rather, making some large adjustments—his new plan, the other, being the genius he was, had listened to every word of Madara's overly long speech. He had rambled on about something or the other, but mostly about how since the Akatsuki wanted Naruto they had to get to Konoha first before the jinchuuriki.

"If we destroy what he is aiming for, he will become so angry that he has no other choice than to come to us, in hopes of revenge or vengeance. Then we will have our prime chance to capture him." Madara's voice had lost the insane edge to it. Now he sounded eerily clear-minded and sinister, plotting the demise of some poor little animal. _Insane man._

"Agreed?"

"... Very well." Pein stood up, and the rest of the Paths slipped out the door. Konan stepped lightly away too, no doubt going to help Nagato in his departure. Pein lingered for a moment longer, ringed Rinnegan eyes darting around. "We will be leaving Amegakure then…"

"Yes." Pein nodded once before swirling away in a flash of black, leaving Itachi and Madara.

"What is your decision, then, Uchiha Itachi?" Madara turned to his partner-in-crime (quite literally) with a mocking bow. "My goal is finally going to be achieved…"

"Your madness, you mean?" Itachi's voice never wavered from its usual indifferent tone, but his eyes showed the contempt he held for Madara. _He was the stronger one. Madara would never win against Itachi._

"Say whatever you like, but we are going to Konoha." Madara turned to stare down at the crazed streets below again, an almost bemused expression on his face that Itachi couldn't see. Women screamed below, shoved by others. Children stumbled along the sides of the roads, looking lost and uncertain, while some were picked up by rough-looking men and hauled shrieking away. Fistfights broke out frequently.

It was utter madness.

Itachi narrowed his eyes—the tiniest bit—and left without another word. He couldn't go against Madara now, not because he didn't have the power too, but because it would destroy everything he had worked for. In the ninja world, it wasn't about the money, although that was a part of it. The main influence people had over others was connections, and if it wasn't connections, it was the power that would allow them connections. Madara had it all.

Said man continued staring out into the open air, noticing only when a cloud finally passed over the brilliantly bright sun. Within moments, the air had fogged up and the temperature dropped noticeably; the first drops of rain hit the pavements and window moments later. Whatever civilians were out scattered, as so did the minor rebellion, to hunker down until the rain passed. Until the Akatsuki left the village.

Madara sighed, feeling the weight press down on him. It was his burden to carry; he had to avenge the clan that had done nothing for him. He had to destroy them. He had to destroy _Konoha. _That was his sole purpose for this, for war, for anything.

He might be nobody, he might be dead, he might be the most legendary warrior to walk the earth, but it didn't matter.

The only that did was achieving his plan.

_Eye of the Moon._

* * *

><p>The village lay in ruins.<p>

Houses were mere skeletons of what they once were, scattered and most burning with an eerie orange glow. The sky had clouded over again, threatening rain, making the air moist and humid. Naruto's hair clung to his face along with other nastier products (like blood and gore and other unidentifiable human body parts).

Sasuke, next to him, silently sheathed his sword with a _cling. _Both observed the ruined village with silent pleasure, taking in the sight of their work.

Not one person had made it out alive.

Naruto turned, feeling the blood stick to his hands. How much had he shed? Countless drops, countless lives now stained those very hands he swore would bring good about. But he couldn't give this up now…not when the Kyuubi was roaring inside his head, reminding him over and over and over about killing. The pleasure of killing, the _power._

And because of that, Naruto smiled and said...

"Who's next?"

* * *

><p><strong>Um, well…-chuckles- It looks as if Naru isn't going to become good after all? But while Madara chases after Konoha, Naruto is coming for him, because, you know, Madara first and then Konoha. Of course. And Sasuke's just hanging along for the ride.<strong>

**I have a feeling we're soon to be entering the final stages of this fic. You know, as soon as they face off against Konoha (again) and destroy some more Akatsuki XD And then get started on some new projects. Although it's not like I wanna finish this! I love this fic and all you guys :3 **

**So, thanks so much for supporting this fanfic! I doubt I would have made it so far without everyone. Hooray! *spreads free cookies and ramen* See ya next Thursday!**

**TBC!**


	33. Chapter Thirty One

**A/N: OHMIGOD. HALF DAY LEFT OF SCHOOL— MUST ENDURE! **

**So, as shown from that glaringly obvious all caps line above, I really really really can't wait for school to end, even though it still feels like summer break just ended! But winter break is a…sorta…fair enough trade, I suppose. Although it's lacking about a month and a half-ish. **

**Also, from this point forward, I'm anticipating that a lot of the three POVs I'll be alternating between is Sasuke and Naruto, Konoha, then Akatsuki, just because it's fun :) (Although that might change a bit based on today's chap) Perhaps a little bit of Suna or Nakami will be thrown in to mix things up, or random OCs like today...based on my earlier chapter, the one with Tetsuya (ha, I had to search to remember the name) I don't know why, but it's enjoyable writing Sasuke and Naruto from other people's POV. So :D and enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I would be getting everything I wanted for Christmas, but sadly that's not happening.**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Thirty-One <strong>

_On that day, you taught me that solitude is painful! I understand that so well right now. I have family and I have friends, but if you're gone…to me…it will be the same as being alone. _–Haruno Sakura

_Shinobi are more than soldiers, more than warriors…We belong to our village. We are killers of the shadow, defenders of our country, we exist only for that. We spend our lives fighting, and we die that way. The people who love Shinobi have to carry that in their hearts at all times. _–_Love Songs and Ladies, _by Maldoror

Never once in her lifetime—short as it was—had Hotaru ever thought she'd done something wrong.

So maybe she wasn't blessed like her beautiful older siblings were. Maybe she didn't inherit the 'genetic' talent for _farming_, something she didn't even want to do. Maybe she was just a plain-looking, completely ordinary girl hoping she could aim for something bigger, like marrying a rich handsome man who preferably loved her.

Was that so bad?

"Hotaru!"

Her beautiful, also blessed mother stormed into the room, looking as frazzled and weary as usual; her looks remained the same despite her fatigue. "I told you to go to the kitchen! Important guests are coming tonight and we have to look good for your father's sake. He needs to get this marketing deal, understand?"

"Yes, for the cabbages," Hotaru muttered softly under her breath. She stood, rubbing her aching back softly. She had been kneeling over trying to coax the last of the fresh water from the well for a long time. "Going, Mother."

She trudged across the slightly damp ground, mud sticking to her shoes uncomfortably. She heard a distinctive sigh followed by the words her mother made no attempt to conceal: _"I wish that child could have turned out better."_ Hotaru had already heard those words so many times already, one more time didn't hurt her. Or maybe it did, just a tiny bit on the inside, but she'd convinced herself that it didn't matter. She just had to provide for her family. That was her job.

It wasn't like her mother was mean on purpose, she continued to reason with herself as she stepped into the steamy kitchen. She just didn't have patience, that was all. She wanted the best for her family too, so naturally they had to help accomplish that. Right?

"Hotaru?" Her older brother stuck his head in, looking appropriately tousled from his outside activities. Of course he was allowed to go outside in the fresh air and play with his friends—not that Hotaru really had any, being the outcast child with no particularly unique qualities to speak of, according to the other children—while she was stuck in their dirty, hot kitchen peeling vegetables for her father's merchandise-friendly dinner…

_It's for the family, _Hotaru reminded herself, _my family. _

So she put on a sweet smile that probably would have looked so much better on her second-oldest sister and said, "Yes, Keihomaru?"

"Do you have a snack my friends and I could eat? We're hungry," he replied, putting on a somewhat pleading face. Hotaru bit her lip and shook her head a little regretfully.

"Sorry, Mother would probably skin me if I did give you something."

"I see. It's okay, I'll survive till dinner," Keiho grinned cheerfully, waving before disappearing outside again. Hotaru watched after him for a little longer, not knowing that it would be the last time she would ever see or talk to her brother—alive—again.

After her father's dinner, she cleared the plates and continuously chanted to herself, _For the family, for the family, it's all for _my _family… _But for some reason, it wasn't working to numb her feelings like it normally did. Instead, something kept prompting her to glance outside the window nervously, a tick she had thought she'd cured herself of. Apparently not.

When she was young, Hotaru had still been cherished because she was still adorable. She'd often been let outside after dusk to play with Keihomaru and her older sisters, chasing fireflies and other kiddie activities.

She had especially loved the fireflies, her namesake. They were so gorgeous, blinking little dots of light flashing in and out through the woods. If only she could do that again…ever again… just once, be like the firefly. Maybe that was where her constant peering out the windows came from; that desire to see a firefly.

"Hotaru! What are you doing?" her mother scolded, hands on hips. Her father was at the door, waving goodbye to the last of his clients. Her sister had just trudged in from a day of playing outside, all the more sun-kissed to tell for it. Hotaru mentally compared her enviously tan skin to her own too-pale skin and sighed. Jealousy was the one thing she would never admit to aloud.

"Ah, cleaning," she quickly answered, moving toward the table meaningfully, waiting for her mother's usual disappointed sigh. This time, it never came.

The world tumbled around her with shocking speed, cabinets shaking on their hinges before collapsing in piles of timber and dust onto the wooden ground. The table had been shaken onto one side, dishes clattering angrily to the ground before breaking into a thousand delicate pieces. The walls shook once before giving way to a slice of blue-white lightning, something Hotaru had never ever seen before in her lifetime—and she wished she never would have had to again.

Her mother fell to the floor, screaming with her head clutched in her hands. Any doubts or questions Hotaru may have been having vanished as she ran to her mother's side, shaking her shoulders. "Mother! Mother? What's wrong? _Answer me!_"

But no matter what she did, how hard she shook, how loud she shrieked, her mother never answered, just continued moaning in that dreadful voice over and over, head cradled in fragile hands. Her mother was like a porcelain doll; under too much pressure, she would crack into pieces smaller than the ones of the dishes on the floor. Hotaru desperately wished that wouldn't happen.

She stood, determined to find where her father and sister had disappeared to, only to find a stranger standing where their wall had once stood. Hotaru instinctively skittered back a few steps, heart pounding with a crazed fervor. Something about this man seemed... off. That was the only way to describe the silhouetted figure that only all too quickly became clear as he stepped forward.

A blue-white sword of lightning was held carelessly in his left hand, the same thing that had been the demise of her home. A quick glance upward showed the roof on the edge of teetering down and collapsing with her and her mother inside; she had to get them out, no matter what.

_They are still family._

_I love them._

"Get out!" Hotaru screamed with a bravery she didn't know she had. "Get out of my home!"

"It won't be yours for much longer," the stranger answered indifferently, voice deep and completely ice-cold. For the first time, she saw his eyes… and something in her cowered and wanted to run away screaming, forever.

This man had red eyes. Eyes redder than blood, telling of countless brutal murders of innocents and all the blood they had encountered. All the blood they had soaked up, thriving on their pain. _Her _pain.

"That's right. Run away." The man stepped in even further, the lightning sword coming perilously close to Hotaru's mother. From that same place somewhere deep inside her, an overwhelming wave of protection swept over her. She needed to get this pale-skinned, red-eyed man away from her mother! Now!

So instead of running away (_the smart thing to do)_, Hotaru ran straight toward the intruder, not fearing for her life but for her mother's, the one who had never really chosen to care about her after she was deemed 'unbeautiful'.

As brave as the act was, in her heart Hotaru knew it was futile. The stranger did too. He merely stepped aside as she swept past, raising a leg and kicking her into the neighbor's house nearby. She slumped to the ground, dazed and hurt. Stars clouded the air before her eyes and the more she struggled to clear them, the more that came. Every bone in her body hurt; Hotaru had never ever recalled hurting this much before. Still, she fought against the imminent darkness and pushed herself to her feet, eyes focused on the gray-shirted back of the black-haired man looming over her mother… _over her mother. _

Her eyes widened to almost impossible standards as she realized that his sizzling sword was in a killing stance, held straight out to his side, ready to slice down with deadly accuracy. The world moved in the slow motion of stories, her eyes following the blade of lightning every inch of its journey. And then her floor, the only home she'd ever known and secretly cherished, was stained red with blood.

The man turned halfway, meeting her eyes directly. Only now those previously cold eyes seemed to be—laughing. Laughing over the death of her mother.

Hotaru felt the neighboring house collapse behind her back, but she didn't move. She was unable to move; transfixed by those hypnotizing eyes that reminded her of a snake (cold, capricious, but with an undeniably sadistic humor) and that was the pure beauty and horror of it all.

"Sasuke."

The voice came from behind her. Hotaru whirled around, heartbeat set into a new pounding rhythm. Another man had come up from behind her—but when? She hadn't heard a thing, although the noise from the collapsing house or her blood roaring in her ears could have prevented that.

This man was as different from the first man as the sun was from the moon, but there was the same aura about them. The coldness. The meanness that one comes to associate with the heartless. His eyes were red too, but not with the strange dots around the pupil; instead the pupil was slit-shaped like a snake's. Why did everything remind her of a snake today?

"This is the last house?" the man continued to speak, advancing seemingly without noticing Hotaru. She was standing in the shadow of the ruined neighbor's house, said neighbors nowhere to be seen. Perhaps... perhaps the two hadn't noticed her yet? Maybe? A hope blossomed in her chest.

_Then I can still escape._

Slowly, she began backing away, adrenaline making her eyesight sharp, making her feel more alive than she had in such a long time. Hotaru hadn't realized she'd been seeing the world through monochromatic colors until now, when suddenly all the colors were sharpened into bright focus. Focus made by murder.

"Is it?" the first man—Sasuke?—replied with polar tones. "You should know."

The way they spoke to each other was strange unto itself, Hotaru contemplated as she carefully made her way backwards. She kept her eyes half on the two men who'd destroyed her village and half on the ground; stepping on a twig now could mean certain death. It was like the two didn't care at all for each other. They were merely accomplices in murder, associates by name of a deed so terrible it was still hard for her to believe. And then she realized that maybe, that was _all it was. _

Then another terrible thought struck her, making her freeze and catch her breath just in time too. _What if they destroyed my home for… _fun?

Hotaru might not have known it, but stopping just then saved her life.

Her body was centimeters from emerging into the few feet of open ground between the houses and the safety of the woods. Although smoke lingered across the open area, there was still a high danger that she could have been spotted by Sasuke, and the two had just happened to stop talking the moment she paused too.

"Anyone alive?" the second man asked at last, breaking the silence that was punctuated by crackles and pops of fire. Hotaru was shaken from her daze at those words, listening carefully.

"…No."

Hotaru felt her spirits plummet again on their wild journey of up-and-downs. Why? What had she done to deserve all this? What? That was the only thought running in circles around and around her brain.

Why?

"Then let's destroy this last house and leave to the next village," the second man was saying with calm clarity. He sounded completely un-insane, nothing Hotaru would expect from a murderer and killer. She expected madness. She expected some kind of _feeling, _like the wildly crazy emotions she was feeling right now.

Heat licked up her chin, startling the girl into movement. She ran to the forest instinctively, following the animal senses hidden in the depths of her mind since birth; the primitive instincts. When in doubt, seek shelter, a part of her mind whispered. She pressed herself against the rough bark of a stark, leafless tree, barely providing any safety. If she wanted to keep safe, she would have to go farther in the forest—but not yet. Hotaru had to see what they would do to her home first.

_Why would they do it?_

Flames burning was the first thing she registered. Red—white—gold—orange. They licked up the house, swallowing it whole... along with her mother.

Tears burned abruptly at the back of her eyes, and Hotaru turned away from the ghastly sight of her village on fire. Her legs blurred into motion, running away and away and away, anywhere _(just get me _away_)_ but there.

After a while, she became aware of the burning in her lungs and the oxygen-heavy breaths whistling in and out between her open mouth. Sweat beaded on her face despite the cooling winter air and refreshing wind; yet she still felt like she could smell the smoky remains of her village on her skin and in the air; she felt like she could see the flames dancing in a double-image over everything she looked at; she heard the voices of the two men and the crackling of fire burning everything she ever knew to the ground. Gone forever.

Staggering and falling to the ground, Hotaru closed her eyes, feeling the emotions she had thought she'd pressed back crush down on her. Finally sobs wracked her body as she lay curled up in the damp leaves, unaware that dark shadows had surrounded her until she was lifted up by the arms and held pinioned against the tree.

Her eyes flashed open, blinking to clear the tears from her vision frantically. What—was this the two strangers from before coming to get back at her? For escaping alive? A strangled scream erupted from her mouth, only to be stopped from an invisible force from the figure standing straight ahead of her. Finally her eyes adjusted to the dark, and she could see the people holding her captive.

Good news: it wasn't the ones who destroyed her home.

Bad news: these people looked just as evil.

They had strange cloak-coats on, with high collars and made of black material. Something red shone in the middle of all of them and along some of the sides, in funny shapes that almost looked like clouds. The man standing in front of her was not particularly extraordinary-looking except for the orange swirly mask placed where his face should be…and that same glowing red eye of Sasuke's stared at her.

"Let me go!" she shrieked again, panicking even more at the sight of the eye. Who were these creatures, these _demons _with the completely unearthly eye? Who on earth had red eyes, for God's sake?

"Well, who are you?" the man in front of her asked coolly, the cursed eye appraising her disheveled form. "Why are you running away in the woods? Did something happen to your home, little girl?"

The way he said it made Hotaru freeze from her writhing. There was a distinctly amused tone hidden under the deep voice, and the way he worded it—_something happen to your home? _Suddenly, without a doubt, Hotaru knew that these people at least knew those who had destroyed her village. What if they were even in league with them?.!

"Don't worry. We won't hurt you." A man standing to the side stepped forward. There was something familiar about his face, impassive as it was with two tear troughs running down either side of his nose. His eyes were darker than midnight but Hotaru got the feeling that they too could probably be redder than her mother's blood. She cringed away, her back meeting the solid bark of the tree.

"What do you want? Let me go," she repeated, this time pleading. Of all things, Hotaru didn't want to die. Call her selfish, she wouldn't care. She just wanted to _live_, find a safe home, a safe husband, a safe family and live out till she died of old age. Not murder.

"We won't hurt you," the man with the mask mimicked, stepping forward. He spread his hands in the universal gesture of 'I bear no arms'. "I just want to ask you a few…questions."

"Questions about what?" Hotaru answered warily, eyes darting to her guards. They both sported strange orange-colored hair with piercings in their faces. Both had a grip harder than iron on her arms.

"Just about that attack on your village. Who led it?"

She blinked. Why was she so surprised? She'd known, hadn't she, that they knew those who had attacked? "I…I don't know." A dangerous look from the one in the mask made her speak faster, words tumbling over her lips in their haste to leave her mouth. "T-there was a man. Two men. One was called Sasuke but—I don't know the other one's name. They had red eyes and one was pale. The other had..." Hotaru gritted her teeth, trying to remember. The second man hadn't been dark-headed. No, something brighter, more like— "Blonde!"

But the men who had surrounded her weren't even paying attention anymore. From somewhere nearby, two more people had been conjured; one had orange hair like her guards, but it was cut short and spiky. The other, to Hotaru's shock, was a woman with blue hair. They had all their heads bowed together to form a paradox of rainbow, obviously deeply conversing in something.

Well, good for them, Hotaru thought, her more rebellious side beginning to take over. The drug of numbness had worn off, leaving her feeling raw and exposed to the world. She had nothing to go back to now, not ever. She could finally make her own way into the world—and yes, she was sad for her mother and family, so sad it felt like her heart was ripping apart, but still… a small, deceitful part of her was excited for the future. For tomorrow and all the wonderful possibilities it would bring.

_I'm so unappreciative. But can you blame me? _she thought, a small smile tilting up at the corners of her lips.

That smile was instantly erased when she noticed the men and the lone woman staring at her, almost like they were judging her. Contemplating her… what?

"I think she can," the masked man said at last.

"Of course you would, Madara," the second man with the long hair said. The first man shot a look at the second. Madara was his name, then? Had the second man said it on purpose?

"Listen, girl," Madara instructed, fixing her with another one-eyed, red glare. "You do what we tell you to and you will live, understand?"

Hotaru felt a pang of fear enter her body. "Y-yes. I understand." _Just let me live when I've escaped so far already._

"Good. Then listen…"

* * *

><p>Sakura slumped on her desk, tired after working all day for Tsunade.<p>

She had spent some time with her family as her mentor requested, but had found it somewhat awkward and a little embarrassing to be around them and not know everything that was going on. For example, at dinner the other night she'd discovered her great-aunt living nearby had died mysteriously a while ago; her mom had looked sympathetically at her, like Sakura really cared.

Truthfully, she didn't.

She loved her family, her mother and her father, but they were ordinary. They thought a great-aunt whom they hadn't even known perishing was a disaster, but they didn't know about Sakura. Her 'job' dealt with death and all the gruesome aspects that came along with it.

She didn't connect with her parents anymore… or she couldn't.

Still, Sakura had made some sort of effort the past two days. She'd talked to them, hugged them, even cooked for them. But then the atmosphere had simply been too oppressing for her and she'd left to go work all day for Tsunade in an attempt to drown herself in paperwork and forget about the tense, discomfited air in her home, all because of her.

"Sakura?"

Someone knocked on her door, letting themselves in a moment later. It was Tsunade. Sakura straightened self-consciously, standing and shaking her head to fluff out her hair. The humidity and dampness, despite the fact it was winter, was getting to her. "Yes?"

"Are you going to go home today?" Tsunade asked, concern showing through her brown eyes.

Sakura hesitated, knowing what she was implying. It wasn't like she'd be thrown out onto the streets to suffer through the night if she didn't go home. She'd just stay at the Hokage tower, like she sometimes did, or a spare room in the hospital or just a whole other residence in Konoha. It was a bit shameful she didn't even entertain the notion of going back home.

Was it really home, though, when her heart wasn't in it anymore?

"I…"

"It's okay. I'll have a room prepared," Tsunade said, waving her hand. A flood of disappointment dashed through Sakura. It was obvious her mentor had wanted her to return home, to have something she herself had never had. Only when love was gone did one know just how much they missed it. Sakura opened her mouth, ready to change her mind, but her words never met Tsunade's ears.

The door to their room burst open, banging loudly on the wall before nearly ricocheting shut. The intruders had already entered.

It was two ANBU and a small, teenage, beat-up looking girl.

"What is this?" Tsunade demanded, striding forward and making quite the impressive figure. "Why did you barge in here with …"

"This?" an ANBU offered. It had to be a Captain, Sakura reflected, or else he wouldn't dare talk like that to the Hokage. Tsunade might be harsh sometimes, but she was fair, and wouldn't ever dare call a human being 'it' or 'this'.

As it was, she leveled the rebellious ANBU with a menacing glare, leaving him shakily taking half a step back. The other ANBU made a repressed snicker, her long brown hair shaking slightly as to not alert Tsunade to her own laughter. Luckily for her, the Hokage was busy inspecting the poor girl hanging between the two ANBU.

Sakura advanced around the desk, curious despite herself. Why would this girl need two ANBU, of all things? She sensed no chakra in her—none that was visibly activated, anyway. A harmless little country village girl, if her clothes and somewhat (terribly) matted hair was any indication. Sakura frowned. Country girl? She ran through a map of the Land of Fire in her head (she did have an awfully large forehead that was good for storing knowledge, though she had grown considerably into that same large forehead, and it no longer looked so strange and awkward on her tall, lean frame). The nearest country village was what, three days away? Country villages were known for their peace. They never required any shinobi, unless it was a particularly grueling harvest and ninjas were bored, accepting the easiest D-rank picking missions and handing them off to the poor gennins to perform.

So what was this girl doing here, with her cut-up feet that looked like it had suffered miles of walking (or running) and her tangled, rain-streaked skin?

"Who are you?" Tsunade said loudly, trying to intimidate the girl. Sakura had somehow gotten to her sensei's side, and was staring at the girl more closely. There was something just off about her, the smallest detail. But what?

A flash of fear crossed the girl's face. She cringed backward, yanking the unprepared female ANBU along with her. Both of her guards steadied themselves quickly and held her in a firmer grip, blue already beginning to blossom on one of her upper arms where the sleeves had been ripped away. Was this girl dangerous? Had Sakura, perhaps, judged wrong?

"_Who are you_?"

"M—my name isn't important," the girl stated boldly, suddenly seeming to find something to focus on within herself. Her eyes blazed again, and then Sakura realized what had been 'off' about her from before.

Her eyes had been dead. Cold to the world. Numb.

Something dreadful had happened to this girl… question was if she was going to spread that disease onto them as well.

"That's what she told us too, Hokage-sama," the ANBU Captain said with a more respective voice. "She ran in from the gates and the chunin guarding them were startled, so they didn't catch her. We got her before she could make it too far into Konoha. When we asked her her name and where she'd come from, all we got was, well, that."

"I see." Tsunade furrowed her brow, mind going into doctor mode. "If you tell us your name, we can arrange something. We won't have to result to torture," she told the girl, blandly putting out the facts for her to know. Sakura shuddered, hoping the girl was smart and would just pick the right choice.

"I can't tell you my name," the girl repeated, with just a hint more desperation in her voice. "I can't."

"Then what can you tell us?" Tsunade was restraining herself from yelling, but Sakura could see that it was a struggle. She pinched her nose, breathing heavily. Tsunade hated uncooperative people.

The girl closed her eyes, took a breath, and launched into a long speech that had the ninjas in the room reeling.

"Recently, there have been attacks placed at random along all the villages between here and the village called—Amegakure. Civilian villages and the occasional small-shinobi village are what fall to the prey of these deadly assassins sparing none in their path, merciless killers who know no…know no mercy." Curiously enough, her voice hitched there. "They kill everyone and raze everything into the ground, not even sparing the youngest child or the oldest man. Both have eyes of a demon, glowing blood red with demonic rage and bloodlust only a monster knows. They know little else other than the blood staining their hands. They will not stop for anyone, and eventually they may even target the larger shinobi villages. Know that they will not spare anyone. This village is not a challenge for the likes to those two that the world has never seen before."

There was a beat of silence while Tsunade and Sakura digested this information.

Only two thoughts ran through Sakura's mind at the time: _Either this girl memorized this speech from someone or she is very good at impromptu talking… _and _Please don't tell me those killers are…_

"What are we supposed to do—" Tsunade began, moving into action. The girl cut her off before she even had a chance to finish her sentence, words falling from her mouth smoothly once more. Her tone was pragmatic and sensible.

_Definitely memorized._

"Only one can stop them from destroying the world. Destroying _you. _They have power beyond what the two killers have, and only when allied with them can you even hope of defeating the two murderers. You have common goals in mind; world peace. Work with them and save yourselves," the girl pleaded, tone changing seamlessly into innocent guile. Her eyes grew wet with tears Sakura didn't quite believe were all unreal. "Do it for the innocents. The ones who didn't deserve to die."

Tsunade's lips tightened. One look at her sensei's face told Sakura that she half-believed this stranger and she half didn't. After all, wouldn't Konoha have heard of villages being attacked and obliterated? Who could have done such a thing? Who was this 'one' that could ally themselves with Konoha and save them?

"Who were the killers?"

The girl shuddered, eyes glazing over, delving back into her memories. "Blood…blood red eyes with strange patterns in them. One has moonlight pale skin and the other has hair bright as the sun. Demons," she whispered at the end, closing her eyes. A tear streaked out from the corner of one, and Sakura knew that this girl had at least suffered a little.

Sakura just didn't want to believe that Naruto and Sasuke could do such a thing.

Hard proof like this made it obvious.

She bowed her head.

"I feared this would happen," Tsunade said softly, one hand unconsciously drifting to Sakura's shoulder. She nodded to the ANBUs, signaling for them to wait outside. They left in silent drifts; only the door shutting alerted Sakura of their departure.

Tsunade's hand left her shoulder and she took a step closer to the girl who still had her eyes closed, looking like she was daydreaming. "Who are the ones who will save us from … the killers?" She spoke the last with reluctance. The Hokage didn't want to believe this any more than Sakura, but how could she not?

_Raze everything to the ground…Eyes of a demon, glowing blood red…blood staining their hands…_

The girl shuddered once again. "They are the promised ones. They will bring peace." Her voice grew autonomous. "They told me to bring you this message, to ally you with them before it is too late. Otherwise they will not stop those from destroying this village."

"What did they look like?.!" Tsunade hissed. Sakura saw her sensei clench her fists in silent rage; Sakura felt like that too, bound in chains so thick and so cold she couldn't do anything but stand in place and shake.

The girl licked her lips, opening her eyes. They were a clear blue, to Sakura's slight horror and fascination. "Black. Black and red, four—no, nine of them—terrifying men and a woman. Blue hair. Red eyes, mask, orange hair. Piercings." She shivered, not even piecing together her sentences anymore. Her eyes lost the unfocused look of one submerged in memories and gained the distracted one of the mad.

Air whistled past Tsunade's lips and she shook her head. "Akatsuki? Peace? That's a laugh. Are you their spy?" she asked ruthlessly.

"No. No. They told me to tell you, so listen please! Please listen." The girl bowed her head like Sakura did, lacing her fingers together. "For those who don't deserve to die."

"Genjutsu," Tsunade told Sakura, pressing her fingers to her temple exhaustedly. "I think we've got all the information we can get from her. ANBU!" The ANBU standing at the door wisped in; it was the woman, and she took the girl by her arm and led her away per Tsunade's instruction. "Tell me if she says anything else, understand?" she instructed.

At last, Tsunade and Sakura were alone again.

"Can you believe this is happening _now_?" Tsunade groaned, falling back into the chair Sakura had vacated not five minutes before. She stared off into the space. "So Sasuke and Naruto are killers now. Hurting the innocent. How did it all turn out like this?"

Sakura numbly shook her head, wondering the same thing in her heart. And that girl had said for them to team up with Akatsuki! Who did Madara think he was to ask such a bold thing? Like they would go against Naruto or Sasuke—but wait, weren't they already… doing that?

"We cannot team up with Akatsuki. Not even if they turn on us later; if we did, they might backstab us in the back as well. If Sasuke and Naruto come here, we will deal with them as fit. It will just be the Operation taken to our home grounds," Tsunade said in a manner that would have been reassuring had she not sounded like she was assuring herself as well.

"Akatsuki will probably show up anyway," Sakura finally said. Her rational side of her brain was beginning to function faster. "If they hear we've defeated Naruto, they'll just pop up and whisk him away. We have to detain him, then kill him." The second-to-last word was forced out with a little difficulty.

"The Akatsuki are a big problem." Tsunade put her elbows on the wooden desk, lacing her fingers together and resting her chin on them. "I will have to hold a meeting with the Council and perhaps Suna, seeing how they're included on this mission. Send some troops out to investigate the damage of the nearby villages, Sakura. We will confirm this rumor once and for all."

Sakura nodded briskly, happy to be doing something. A thought hit her just as she was about to leave the room and she paused.

"What does this all mean, Tsunade-sensei?" She locked eyes with her former mentor. "What are we on the verge of?"

Tsunade's expression hardened. "If it continues like this, more and more fighting between the two most dangerous missing-nins and the largest, most powerful shinobi villages and the S-rank band of rogue ninjas, you know perfectly well what it will equal. If such an event happens to come to Konoha, as we see it now, there is only one foreseeable option in our future…

"War."

* * *

><p><em><strong>War is a strange thing, <strong>_the Kyuubi mused, head resting on giant crossed paws in an almost comical manner. His eyes were narrowed and he looked near sleep.

Naruto gripped the fragile bark of the spindly top of the tree he was perched on, feeling splinters dig into his skin. _How so?_

_**The simple matter is that it is completely useless. What is the point of constant fighting? Do you accomplish anything? Besides bloodshed, which is the best part, of course. **_

_Do you realize you're contradicting yourself there? _Naruto asked, scanning the horizon line. The Kyuubi's words echoed hollowly in his mind; an absent-minded conversation between the two was nothing out of the norm. The Kyuubi was known to bring up strange topics at strange times—never had he talked about war, though. About the blood war brought, yes, but not this kind of thinking.

_**War is a good thing. It brings death. **_The Kyuubi began laughing, clearly ending their conversation. He seemed to have decided on one thing; whatever insight the demon sported earlier vanished under the light of bloodlust he always carried inside him.

Naruto shrugged to himself, noting the position of the two most recent smoking towers that used to be villages (east and northwest) and decided mentally that they would have to go between those two villages now. A little further and they would reach…

Konoha.

That was still something he hadn't decided yet. Was he going to destroy Konoha along with all the others? Could he? Was he strong enough? A part of Naruto definitely wanted to try it, hungering for the power to learn that he could obliterate whole nations… but if the price was death, Naruto didn't want to pay it.

"We're going that way," Naruto said, pointing off in the approximate direction they'd be heading as soon as his feet touched ground. Sasuke looked up noncommittally, eyes dark. He had just finished cleaning his blade and laid it on the grass next to him, looking unusually bothered. For Sasuke, that meant the tiniest bit of skin wrinkled between his two eyebrows in a place where usually there would have been nothing but smooth, indifferent coolness. "What's wrong?"

Sasuke shot a black glare toward him, but there was something oddly lacking about it. It wasn't that Sasuke didn't have his usual force driving him behind every action; it was more like something was bothering him. He was thinking.

At last, he spoke. "That village the other day, the one with all the crops…"

"What about it?" Naruto leaned against the tree, rubbing his stomach. It was crying for hunger and possibly ramen, unlike his hands which were itching for blood. He shook his head, gaining some momentary clarity from the constant bloodlust the Kyuubi pressed on him. Sure it was useful for battles, but normally? No. "That one where the Akatsuki were spotted near, right?"

Sasuke gave a sharp nod. "Not only that, but when I was destroying the last family, there was a girl."

"So what? Didn't you kill her?" Naruto laughed, dismissing the fact that Sasuke—the great, all-mighty Uchiha Sasuke—might have made a simple mistake such as letting a witness go and jeopardizing their lives.

What one eyewitness might do to them, just by spreading the word, could be disastrous, Naruto knew. That word could travel to larger villages and then eventually Konoha, bringing the assassins (and supposed 'hunters' for his own personal kill mission, what a joke their Operation was) and bounty hunters looking for harder prey down on their heads. They'd have even more trouble.

_**Or more killing, depending on the way you look at it. I prefer to look at it the optimistic way. **_

Naruto almost laughed out loud at the Kyuubi's absurd statement. Was he inferring Naruto actually thought he would die against some of Konoha's 'best' or a _bounty hunter_? The idea itself was crazy.

Sasuke still hadn't spoken. There was a pensive expression on his face that made Naruto nervous, remembering his question that he'd asked not moments before. "You did kill her, right?"

"I think so."

Those three words forced Naruto from his resting place against the tree. He flung his arms out wide, feeling the unfamiliar noose of panic (unwelcomed but creeping in anyway) tightening around his neck. His pulse jumped in spite of the Kyuubi's harsh words of cowards and weaknesses. "You _think _so?.! What do you mean, you _think _so? Did you kill her or not? Was her blood on your sword?"

"I saw her nearby. She was standing against the house you so boldly burst out of," Sasuke said coldly, standing and sheathing his sword smoothly like molten silver. "I assumed you took care of her."

Naruto smirked at the sheer irony of it all. Clever bastard. Now he was trying to blame it on Naruto, but the problem was—in the midst of things, he didn't know what exactly happened. Did he kill the girl whose face he couldn't even recall? Had there even _been _a girl?

"It doesn't matter." He shook his head, feeling his stomach rumble again. Naruto faced the direction they were setting off in, ignoring the fact that Konoha was indeed just a bare eight miles away. What was he going to do when he got there? He didn't know.

_Do you think you'll just be welcomed? Fool, you're marching to your death, _whispered the sniveling voice.

"Let's go," Naruto said, setting off into the trees and completely ignoring the voices in his head clamoring for attention in each of their own different ways, ignoring the fact that hearing any kind of voice alone would have brought medical attention down on his head in seconds. Hearing voices was the mark of the insane, but how was he supposed to combat a demon? Not when it was trying frequently to take over, more and more...

Because that was what the Kyuubi had been doing.

The last time Naruto and the fox could clearly remember either vanquishing control or taking it was when they fought Konoha and Suna both at the sand village. In the times leading up till now, the fox had grown continually more and more restless, even going so far as to try and take control when Naruto was sleeping. He could relate, knowing the feeling of being cooped up with nothing to do—like when guards were patrolling during his reign of protection over Konoha and he was forced to stay in his temporary home for extended periods of time—was a horrible one; but at the same time, he had no desire to lend his body out for some demon to take control over. If anyone was to wreak havoc, then it would be Naruto.

Besides, a slowly budding thought was beginning to blossom in his mind, spreading its tendrils around his thoughts and ensnaring them. It was an increasingly tempting idea, something Naruto had entertained before but only for brief periods of time. His goal then had still been to protect Konoha, and he needed the Kyuubi's aid, but now? He had grown strong enough without the Nine-tails. His only dream now was to defeat the Akatsuki and destroy Konoha. The path he was on was set in stone—as much as a ninja's could get, anyway. Did he really need whatever 'help' the Kyuubi offered?

No. He didn't, and he was going to make sure that _help _stayed away for good.

Problem was he didn't have a clue how to get about doing it.

Naruto had a vague notion seals were probably needed, along with some type of fake death or near-death experience. The time from when he'd accessed four tails state and had lost control to the fox flashed through his mind; the pain had been excruciating but the desire to kill Orochimaru had been greater. Now, when he got to any state higher than four but lower than seven, he could maintain control. The Kyuubi had been careful never to lend out more chakra than seven tails though, which led Naruto to wonder what would happen if he did. Would he begin to lose control? Was there something _other _that would happen? Something possibly endangering the Kyuubi's existence?

Naruto resolved then and there to force the Kyuubi past seven tails. Where this sudden desire to defeat his oppressor had come from, he didn't know, but the wish was there to stay.

Immersed in his own thoughts, Naruto didn't notice Sasuke's warning to stop until he was yanked to the ground by his ally, skidding somewhat painfully into the hard exterior of a rock. He leaped up to his feet instantly, ready to confront what the hell Sasuke was up to. He had always known that kid was a backstabber—

"Shut up," Sasuke hissed, eyes red as they darted through the trees. Naruto instinctively scanned the surrounding environment too. A large craggy cliff rose up in the distance, triggering a faint memory. Something to do with an earth jutsu and some water missing-nin from Kirigakure, not that long ago…

He was yanked to the side again as a long iron pole sliced into the tree behind him, cutting halfway through and driving deep. The tree groaned once before splitting apart. Sasuke shoved him away. "Pay attention or I'll let you die!"

"Gee thanks," Naruto muttered, focusing on his surroundings again. He eyed the pole; wasn't it part of the Akatsuki's? Did that mean that they had surrounded them somehow when they—well, he—wasn't paying attention?

"Fancy meeting you two here," came the smooth (and now familiar) voice of Madara. He appeared through the trees directly in front of him. Without turning, Naruto could hear six pairs of footsteps crunch heavily through the frosty leaves behind them. Surrounded, for sure.

"I knew you were up to something," Sasuke hissed from beside him. "I sensed your trail the other day in that village. What did you do with the girl?"

"I didn't know you cared. All I did was send her to Konoha, of course, with a little message. They know about your rather violent escapades, and they've resolved to kill you. I've also given them the option of allying with us, but I think they will reject that option, albeit unwisely." Madara shook his head in a sympathetic manner.

"So you've come to kill us yourself, is that it?" Naruto snarled. His eyes flashed over to the cliff again. If they were this close to Konoha already…

Was Madara's plan to cause a commotion and attract Konoha's officials, making an even bigger mess that would be even harder to clean up? Naruto gritted his teeth.

"Why, can't I play a little before the kill?" Madara looked wounded before his eyes curved viciously, malicious intent shining clear. "Oh well, if you insist on figuring me out, I can't say no."

Naruto tensed. The Kyuubi laughed in his mind.

_**Oh, isn't this about to get exciting… Everything's boiled down to this, has it? What do you call it, the…**_

_**Beginning of the end?**_

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><p><strong>Aha! I left it off at a totally mean spot. Also, please read the following if you are very bored.<strong>

**Ah-hem, this is random but purely intentional: I am writing another one-shot! Wheee! Actually, I have been for the past, er, month, but I just sorta er lost my concentration for a bit? XD I'm going to call it "Death", but it's based upon what all the members of Team Seven, Kakashi included, would feel in the afterlife. A somewhat introspection kinda fic, first person… so yeah. I'm going to try and post it next week along with the chapter, before Christmas and all that. Please go read it when it's out? :3**

**That said, I thank you for putting up with my completely crazy advertising and another somewhat strange, morbid, hopefully entertaining chapter of DA! And reviews are appreciated, hope everyone did good on finals/will do good/or is having fun because they are on break already! :D **

**Next Thursday then *salutes* **

**TBC!**

**P.S. Really sorry for not replying reviews :( will get to them in break. I'll have time then.**


	34. Chapter Thirty Two

**A/N: Hello, another update is at your disposal. **

**Do you remember that one chapter where I said I was taking care of a dog? And couldn't update as fast for a few days? Well we were taking care of Daisy again –awws- she's so adorable. And eek! Over 150 reviews, well it's been that way for some time, but still O_O Sorry for the semi-late update, (or at least, really late here at night) uh I went shopping? :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Nope.**

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><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Thirty-Two <strong>

_Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts the most. _–Unknown

_Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have. _–Louis. E Boone

"Was that all really necessary?" Itachi had asked earlier.

Madara had looked sneeringly at him. "What do you think? This way, the girl warns Konoha appropriately of Sasuke and Naruto's arrival, though I have no plans of them getting the prize."

"I assume you're getting it for yourself then."

"Of course. Take down two with one stone." Madara had given a false sounding laugh. "Let Konoha keep up their preparations and fake beliefs. By the time we're done, they won't have some 'Operation' to worry about. But of course, we must stage it close enough to Konohagakure that they will know when we utterly crush those they seem so bent on protecting yet try to destroy."

"And what will you do if they come running?"

"Well, if they really want to join, I can't say no…" Madara's smile matched the one he sported now as he parroted the very words he'd said not days before. "…if you insist on figuring me out, I can't say no."

Naruto tensed before him, eyes darting around in an attempt to find an escape. Madara scoffed. There would be none. Paths had surrounded the area, and the summoning one had already summoned an adequate amount of arsenal to use in case one of his prey tried to escape. Madara was a careful planner, and he didn't like to waste opportunities like he had already. This time, he would win or he would lose.

Definitely win.

"You have no idea what you're getting yourself into," Sasuke said lowly. His eyes were red and swirling. "Konoha can hear you. You're down a member."

"What? Do you think I'd care if those weaklings came? Just another target for practice!" Madara laughed. "And as for Zetsu, I didn't know you cared. He wasn't that strong anyway." He waved his hand, dismissing the plant creature. If you couldn't prevent yourself from dying, you didn't deserve to be an Akatsuki member, like all those before Zetsu _(Deidara, Sasori, Kakuzu, Hidan, Kisame, even Orochimaru). _

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Everyone's just a tool to you."

"That is what the Akatsuki is. We are all tools. I am just the master weapon. What do you think shinobi are, fool? We are trained weapons, only good for one thing! _Killing._" Madara spread his hands wide before sighing and shaking his head almost despondently. He beckoned lazily to the woods, and a shadow detached itself from a tree trunk and slipped forward. Itachi.

Madara grinned in a sadistic pleasure when he noticed Itachi's younger brother literally vibrating with the intensity of his anger. "You—!" he began, not even coherent in his desire for revenge.

"Little brother," Itachi said calmly, glancing sideways at Madara. "What do you want?"

_To show a little more respect maybe, _Madara thought, but instantly dismissed it. He was above petty feelings like that; he didn't care about such foolish, human wants. His goal was to fulfill his plan and that was all. "Cast a genjutsu around this area. Nobody can escape... but people can get in."

"Wouldn't you be looking more for a barrier?" Itachi turned his whole head to gaze levelly at his 'superior', disdain etched in his eyes in such a pattern that only Madara could read it.

Madara just looked at Itachi. The man was growing more rebellious by the hour. He had known his place at first, quietly accepting missions and assassination orders; but, with a shock, Madara realized that in those days, they hadn't been down to the last bijuu yet. They had still been gathering other demons, and finally Madara realized the extent that Itachi had been planning. From day one, he'd been plotting, and he had never stopped in his plan to get Sasuke to kill him and return to Konoha.

Madara smirked. Well, he could ruin that last part by just talking to Sasuke after Itachi was dead…

Itachi was a genius. Madara would just have to outsmart him.

"Barrier, genjutsu, it doesn't matter." Madara waved a hand, dismissing the Uchiha. Itachi bled back into the shadows. Madara turned just in time to catch a bloodlust-filled glance from Sasuke. "Your revenge is really that important to you, is it?"

"What would you know about it? You're just an old man, living far too long on this world. All you know is world domination." Sasuke's voice was cold.

"True," Madara agreed, "but I also know what goes on in the impulsive hearts of teenagers. You are too hasty to act. You don't know patience, you don't know what it means to _wait _as I have for decades, a century (1) for my plans to succeed. How long have you waited? A month before seeking him out fruitlessly? You may have hatred, but you don't have enough. You never will, unless you wait for a hundred years." His mouth twisted. "You also don't know anything."

Sasuke's face had suddenly settled into his blank but confident mask somewhere in between Madara's speech. Closing himself off. "I know more than you."

"Bold lies," Madara scoffed. Then he made a move that later, viewed upon, could be categorized as reckless, stupid even. "Did you know I helped kill your clan on that day? Itachi approached me on a moonless night and offered all the throats I could slice. So see, you really didn't know everything at all." _Just omit a little truth…_

"You helped kill my clan," Sasuke repeated slowly. If his eyes glowed any redder, one could have sworn that it was as if blood itself had been poured into those glowing irises, almost iridescent in their light.

"Sasuke," Naruto said from beside him, not really as a warning but just a word, a name, telling him what would happen next should he act rashly now. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, hand clenching tight around his katana that he'd pulled from nowhere. Madara's eyes suddenly grew cold as he sensed the change in the atmosphere. Itachi had set up the genjutsu barrier.

"Too bad you've run out of time," Madara told the two before suddenly running forward, hand pulled back into a punch.

Sasuke leaped into the air, slicing downward with the katana, trickling with electric energy. The sword flickered through Madara as he twisted to the side; he saw blue, glowing and swirled, illuminated in a contradiction of colors that shouldn't exist in a jutsu. The Rasengan spun toward him, and his eyes widened just barely before paper shuriken cut into Naruto's wrist, jerking him to the side and causing the jutsu to spiral off into thin air. Instantly paper butterflies bombed from the air, landing everywhere except around Madara, who shot backwards. The bombs exploded, but when the smoke cleared, nobody was there.

Finally getting serious, were they, Madara thought as he scanned the area with his always activated Sharingan. Underground, or somewhere nearby, he surmised. A Path rushed forward, slamming both fists into the ground, splintering it. At the same moment, Sasuke and Naruto emerged from the smoke and slammed arms into the Path, one in the throat and the other in the stomach. The Path doubled over as Naruto grabbed kunai from some hidden place and flung it seemingly at random into the tree growth. Madara detected rustling as the Paths were forced to move to avoid getting hit. He waved his hand, signaling that they no longer needed to guard the area.

Not when the prey was surrounded anyway.

There was a large poof in the area of the summoning Path and a rumbling growl was heard as a giant, mad-looking dog bounded into the area. Sasuke ducked and sliced off the paw with one stroke, avoiding the spray of blood before scanning the area. His eyes landed on Madara and Itachi, who'd come up from behind him, and streaked toward them.

Naruto, on the other hand, was trying to get rid of the smaller opponents first.

_**Get rid of the Path that can summon the Outer Path, **_the Kyuubi instructed. A lazy note was in his voice, and he sounded almost…_sleepy. _Naruto was never one to get indignant, but hello, he was out here fighting for his life! Couldn't the demon at least offer some help?

_**I am helping, aren't I? You just need to learn to do it yourself. How would you ever survive without me? **_He yawned, closing his eyes and feigning sleep.

_So this is it?_! _You're just going to leave me like this? _Naruto asked angrily. He had known the Kyuubi was arrogant, but seriously, wasn't he taking this a little too far? It wasn't like Naruto needed the Kyuubi's help, really—far from it—but in order to continue fooling the demon…beside, who was he to refuse extra help?

The Kyuubi cracked open a glowing orange-red eye. _**I can feel it, **_he said in what would be a demon's whisper, although it was still very loud. _**I am close. I don't need to help you anymore.**_

I am close. Close to finishing his plans? Close to freedom? Whatever the Kyuubi was 'close' to, it only strengthened Naruto's resolve to get free before the Nine-tails could take complete control. Naruto was nobody's puppet.

_I don't need you anymore. _

And so Naruto flung that last accusation at the Kyuubi, not expecting a response but still somewhat confused when he got none. It seemed the fox was really asleep, or faking it very well. So he was that stubborn on the subject of helping Naruto—or was he just lazy after all this? Naruto curled his lip.

This could be it, he realized. If he used this opportunity well enough to his advantage and egged the Kyuubi on, he could reach past seven tails and then—

He would know what was on the other side.

"This is no time for daydreaming," Pein said coldly as an iron pole descended toward Naruto with frightening speed. Naruto snapped out of his semi-trance in time to twist lithely to the side, cold blue-red eyes tracing along the pole's path. Down and up was what Pein would do, so Naruto jumped to accommodate it and landed on the Akatsuki member's shoulders, balancing for a small second before grabbing one of Pein's arms and flipping him backwards, straight into the oncoming three-headed dog. Both hit each other with muted thuds and slid backwards for a good ten meters. Naruto was already sending clones to dispatch the other Paths, starting with the one that manipulated the Outer Path, somewhat reluctantly following the Kyuubi's 'advice'.

Naruto snapped his fist back, hitting Konan in the stomach with a deadly precision. She withstood the pain and twisted him over her arm. He hit the ground hard, the breath whooshing out of him in a giant sigh. She reached over and slapped something on him, launching backwards. Naruto twisted, seeing the explosion tag, and ripped at it. It wouldn't come off.

He swore, literally _grabbing _the fox's chakra and coating himself with it thoroughly. If he couldn't get it off him, he would just have to withstand the damage.

A second later, the tag exploded, sending a minor shock wave rippling through the area. Sasuke's head whipped toward the noise for a brief second, distracted. It cost him as Madara expertly twisted Sasuke's Kusanagi from his grip, flicking it into the air like it was a bug. The blade twisted handle over hilt before sinking into the dirt, quivering, a good thirty feet away.

Sasuke snapped back, eyes darting between Madara, Itachi, and his sword. Instantly, his hands formed seals. _Katon, _he thought as a massive fireball blew from his mouth, incinerating what was left of the forest. Just before the fire hit, Madara flickered out of view, and Itachi dissipated into a crowd of cawing ravens. It didn't matter, Sasuke's real goal hadn't even been the two Uchihas.

He let the first wave of heat flash over the trees before springing in and grabbing his katana. The fire continued onward, swallowing anything in its path and using it as fuel, greedily gobbling toward where the barrier should be located.

It never stopped.

The fire did pause briefly at a certain point only half a mile away, pulsing like a dragon (and it did seem as if it was more beast than flame, with the way it swallowed all the trees and animals in its path) before blasting onwards. A high dissonant shriek followed the area as the genjutsu barrier broke.

"I see," Madara hissed. So Itachi hadn't even bothered to try and set up a barrier. Just some weak genjutsu that would be broken the minute an attack hit it, and not only that, it was programmed to let out a loud noise and alert everything in miles.

Itachi looked coolly at Madara. "You never said how weak it had to be," he said calmly before stretching out his hand. "Unlike the one you are under right now, it was something a mere gennin could break. You will have to try harder to escape the one you're under."

"Finally turning on us?" Madara, instead of looking angry or surprised, merely looked almost happy. "It's about time. I was getting annoyed of your pretending act."

"It wasn't all pretend and play," was all Itachi said before activating his Mangekyou Sharingan.

Sasuke had returned from retrieving his Kusanagi—the only really useful thing from his time with Orochimaru—to find Madara and Itachi in some sort of showdown; or at least, that's what the scene looked like. Facing each other without breaking eye contact, completely still, not one muscle twitching. It was clearly a genjutsu battle, and instantly Sasuke wondered if it was a trap for him. Why would Itachi and Madara fight when they were on the same side?

"Sasuke! What did you just do?" Naruto yelled as he hit the dog with a giant Rasengan, sending it spiraling away again. He was momentarily swarmed with Paths on all sides and hands clawed for him, trying to either suck out his chakra or his soul. The Path that summoned the Outer Path lay still nearby, facedown. His skin smoked lightly.

"I set off the genjutsu alarm," Sasuke answered, narrowing his eyes as soon as the words left his mouth. Wait. Genjutsu alarm? Only someone on the Akatsuki would have set up a barrier, and he was pretty sure Konan and the Paths didn't know how. That left Madara and Itachi, who had been dispatched to put up a barrier… what was going on here? Why did Itachi suddenly go…_rogue_? Even Sasuke's genius mind couldn't make sense of it, or maybe he just didn't want to.

Why would Itachi be on their side?

"I'm pretty sure people in Konoha could hear it!" Naruto suddenly skidded toward him on his back, winded. There was a bubbling purple chakra around his skin, but mostly concentrated on his right arm where he was building another Rasengan. Four tails swished behind him in an angry symphony of whip-like cracks and boils. "Oh, so now you wanna play, Nine-tails?" he said out loud unexpectedly, as if he was talking to himself. "Well it's too late!"

He threw his head back then, still in some sort of strange world Sasuke wasn't a part of. Another tail emerged, and Naruto landed on all fours, eyes red and blue, changing between the two colors with a blinding speed. He shot off again without saying anything else.

Sasuke frowned, turning to see Madara and Itachi still in some genjutsu. Both were rigid straight and Itachi had sweat beading on his forehead. How was Madara so strong he would make _Itachi _sweat? What were they doing?

It didn't matter. This was a prime opportunity, and Sasuke's more evil side was crying for revenge. Take it now, when both were occupied, and kill Itachi in one stroke.

He stepped forward, lifting his katana with ease. Ten steps and he would reach Itachi. One slice and his head would roll. It would be preferable to kill his older brother in a painful way, of course, dragging it out as long as possible, but in such a condition that was impossible. He could make do with a quick death; Sasuke was tired of waiting for someone who only ran and never stopped. He was tired of waiting for a coward.

Nine steps. Naruto half-growled-half-hissed behind him, and the crackle of burning chakra meeting tree filled the air. Instantly, there was another hiss, this one more like paper withering.

Eight steps. Itachi's hand twitched just slightly.

Seven. A Path, light with a feminine build (though it was hard to tell under that thick black coat) rolled past him, hitting a rock and falling limply.

Six steps. A poof announced the departure of some summoning animal, probably the dog. The female Path lay still, a twisted hole in the middle of her torso.

Five steps. Madara's back straightened and his left foot moved forward almost unconsciously, and then he stayed still. Sasuke sped up his pace just a little.

Four, and a woman's gasp echoed the area.

Another step, and he could see Itachi breathing.

Two steps left. Sasuke's hand clenched around the handle and he couldn't help his heart from speeding up. This was it—the moment of triumph, of _power_, as he finally showed his brother who exactly had the hatred. Who exactly had the will, who would be the last person to avenge the family, who it had been a mistake to leave alive.

One step. He brought his arm up, slicing lightning through the blade just in case the metal of the sword wasn't enough.

Zero.

"Not yet, otouto," Itachi said in a low voice as he stopped the sword in mid-air, something in his palm muffling the sharp lightning chakra. "Wait a little longer while I dispose of this." He flung the sword behind him and it landed in a tree trunk, slicing it through completely, causing wood and debris to rain from the sky.

Sasuke turned to stare incredulously at Itachi as he sprung toward Madara, whatever genjutsu battle they had been having obviously over for the time being.

Of course, again, Itachi had to evade it. He had to run away, only this time…

This time, something was different.

And it wasn't only the suddenly still clearing, or the strange sight of Itachi attacking Madara. It wasn't the battle too quick for the Sharingan to even follow—a ruthless killer against another murderer—or even the fact that the two people he wanted to destroy the most were doing his job for him. It wasn't the bodies of Paths lying on the ground or the scorch marks in the meadow, signs of Naruto's anger.

It wasn't even the fact that his ally himself was missing, although a nasty smoke wafting through the trees told Sasuke where Naruto had headed. Konan and Pein were gone too, probably chasing after Naruto, but that wasn't what was wrong.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he suddenly identified the feeling, strange but not necessarily unfamiliar. He had felt this one before, so long ago he had thought he'd forgotten it.

Then something whistled past his ear, nearly nicking it, but he avoided it just in time. A kunai sunk into the ground with a _tch. _He saw the explosive tag wrapped around it too late, and when the smoke cleared, he was bound in place with black shadows snaking up around his legs. Sasuke raised cold eyes to meet those he had once tentatively called comrades: the Konoha 10.

No, it wasn't even that, or the sight that he was trapped and surrounded.

The feeling that something was wrong but inevitable surrounded Sasuke, suffocating him, before letting go all at once, leaving him more clear-minded than before.

Yes. That was it, this feeling of irrevocability. No matter what had happened—no matter who killed everyone, that he was the last person left from the Uchiha clan to live in Konoha, when Itachi had slaughtered everyone—it was over. Final.

When this is all over, what will be left? Because it is the final round, Sasuke realized. Will there be anyone left to pick up the ashes when everything blew up?

_The feeling of finality._

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><p>"Put Konoha's security on red! Red, do you hear me? And someone alert Suna and call for reinforcements, stat!"<p>

Tsunade shot out her arm and a squad of ANBU leaped away, flashing over rooftops and out of sight. She turned and addressed the group of jounin behind her. "You! Go evacuate the Academy! Chunins! Get the citizens!"

Ninjas of every shape and size darted by, herding confused civilians and ushering excited Academy students who didn't know better; didn't know that it was almost the beginning of a war. One excited little girl asked, "Can we do this again sometime?" The chunin next to her smiled painstakingly and shook his head.

Tsunade stared with hard, narrowed eyes out over her village. They had just so tentatively rebuilt it after Pein's attack. Even though two years had passed, re-growing a village that had spanned for miles was no easy feat. Some parts of the village, as it was, were still under construction even now… and they would be destroyed before they could ever be completed. Her hand clenched.

"Shizune!"

"Y-yes, Tsunade-sama!" Shizune snapped to attention, looking alert with her pig in her arms. "What should I do?"

"Get the Konoha 10 together. We need to have a conversation. And!" she called as her assistant was turning to leave. "Get my chakra pills ready. I won't allow my ninjas to face something so dangerous that I would be scared to myself. I am not a coward."

Shizune bowed respectfully, even though Tsunade couldn't see her. "Yes, Tsunade-sama."

Half an hour later, Sakura led the pack in. She had dressed in a variation of her original outfit with some special defenses and offense techniques worked in (her skirt buckle was now a deadly shuriken tipped with poison in disguise, and the back of her shirt hid a contraption that spat out whatever scroll she needed). A medic's pouch rested on her lower back with a sharp knife cased above it. Her eyes were clear and bright.

Next to her, Ino's team stood confidently. It was just as it was two years ago, Tsunade reminisced sadly, when they were going off to avenge their fallen sensei. Even shy Hinata looked determined to fight.

_They're too young to experience war, _she thought. _Nobody is _ever _ready to experience the horrors of war._

"Are you ready for this?" she asked aloud, so confidently she felt like the motley group of shinobi before her saw through her mask for sure. No way they couldn't guess that Tsunade—_the _Tsunade, Legendary Sucker and all—was scared. Not scared for herself, but scared for them.

They didn't.

With wide, still-innocent eyes despite reaching maturity, her ninjas looked at her, placing their trust in her. Foolish mistake, Tsunade couldn't help thinking bitterly.

Still, she was their leader, and if they were determined to fight, she had to follow their lead. "This is—not quite war, but very close to it," Tsunade told them, planting her hands on her hips. "The Akatsuki have been bothering us for quite a while now, and this is the last straw. They will not attack on our land, so close to our home. It is a danger to all of us, even if they are not directly attacking us; however, they have sent enough threats that eliminating them is a priority, almost before Operation: Hunt Uzumaki Naruto." She paused to draw a breath.

"To protect. To cherish." Tsunade closed her eyes. She never really rehearsed speeches all that well, and this time was no different. The words came spilling out from somewhere deep inside. "Our wills of fire tell us that in order to do that, we must protect the children. We must do whatever it takes to secure our village's safety, even at the cost of our own lives. That is war in itself; protecting the innocents, the ones who didn't deserve to die." She saw Sakura bow her head as they remembered the girl's (Hotaru, as they had finally learned under some light pressure) desolate words. Hotaru had gone into paroxysms not a day later and now lay in the hospital in a coma. It was a tragedy.

Tsunade shook her head, continuing her impromptu speech. "The meaning of shinobi might mean shadow killers, the ones who stalk in the dark, but we are the light. Saviors, sacrifices. We must not put our lives in front of others; out in the battlefield, if this happens… if anything happens, don't hesitate. Your friend turns on you, controlled by an enemy's genjutsu, don't hesitate. Comrades falling around you, don't hesitate. We meet Naruto, don't hesitate." Her eyes were infinitely sad as she conveyed the last command. The Konoha 10's eyes hardened as they registered what she was saying. "Carry out what you've been given; carry out the responsibilities that have been _gifted _to you. I am allowing you to continue on this specialized mission because of who you are, each and every one of you, and of what Naruto meant to you. So don't fail me this time, understand?" Her speech ended with a shout.

"Understood!" they echoed back, so firm and strong and believing that what they were doing was completely right. Strangely enough, Tsunade bit back a rising bump in her throat. How many would survive this? How many brave, loyal people (like the ones standing before her) would die?

What would she do if Naruto was their killer?

The answer came quickly and without refute. She would do the same thing she'd just told them to do: act without hesitation. Fulfill her duty.

Kill.

Tsunade threw out her arm. "Main gates! Wait there till I issue further orders."

The Konoha 10 scattered, moving into teams by instinct. It was as it always was, including their senseis that had always been there for them—except the ones that were gone. They would look out for their pupils even if they weren't on the same team.

"Kiba! Kurenai said she was going to go on a specialized jounin's team. She'll watch our backs," Shino called, dashing over a roof before leaping to the ground. "I predict we will be sent in first."

"Then some more advanced teams, right? We're the bait?" Kiba cracked a wan smile. "Nothing we haven't experienced before."

"It's not a bad thing," Shino commented. "We just have to make sure we do a good job so the rest of the teams following us will have an advantage. The diversion piece, or whatever it is in shogi. Shikamaru would know."

"Also, this way we can have a better chance at the Operation," Hinata said, staring straight ahead, eyes as determined as they were in her Byakugan state.

"First dibs," Kiba muttered, shaking his head. He patted his pouch, stocked with extra pills in case they needed more ammo later…against Naruto. His lip curled, a small growl escaping from his throat. It just sounded weird. Fighting against Naruto? As in, _against against _him? Not just sparring? But actual fighting, like murdering an enemy shinobi kind of—

Hinata brushed up against him, matching his speed perfectly. Her eyes had lost their determined look and appeared soft, something Kiba knew she wasn't. If Hinata had learned anything, it was an unbending, strong will.

"Kiba-kun… stop worrying. We will get through this." Her voice was calm, soothing Kiba. His breath gusted out and he blinked tiredly.

"Yeah. We will."

_All we can do is keep moving forward._

Meanwhile, Sakura and Sai had stuck close with Ino's group. "What did Yamato say?" Sakura shouted over the sudden increase in the wind. Ino's hair streamed behind her, like golden ribbons. Sakura's own hair just got stuck in her face, and she angrily shook it away.

Sai stuck a hand in his pouch, rummaged around for a bit, before pulling out a scroll. He examined it minutely and pronounced, "He is on the ANBU squad. We're facing this alone."

Sakura nodded, changing course to flank Shikamaru. "What's our plans?"

He jumped over a strangely tall boulder. "For Naruto, you mean?" The look Sakura shot him clearly said, _'What else?' _Shikamaru pressed his lips together. Sakura resisted the urge to shake him and finagle the words out of him (probably painfully, as that was her style for doing things). The genius would talk when he was ready, though sometimes Sakura wished he would be ready faster. Did it take so much time to think over some strategies?

Apparently it did, but three minutes later (and two-fifty-feet closer to Konoha's gates; but who was counting anyway?) he was done. "Based on previous experiences, the Kyuubi has intervened each time. Long distance attacks won't work well, but neither will short distance." He listed the faults as if he was ticking them off his fingers. "Naruto's chakra has merged with the Kyuubi's somewhat based on their alliance, forming a strange purple chakra. The chakra itself moves on its own. Naruto also has an assortment of jutsu, old and new, beyond what we remember."

Sakura's heart had sunk like a stone as every word of Shikamaru's sentence dragged on, still in that half-lazy voice. Despite the fact that she knew he didn't mean anything by his words, by the way he was speaking even, she couldn't help the fact that her temper grew shorter. "Was there a reason for all that?"

"It shows us exactly what kind of fighter Naruto is," Shikamaru answered calmly. "He's also impulsive, but it seems to be tempered when the Kyuubi takes over. I hate to say it like this, but our best chance to break down his defenses and take him down is if we distract him enough by talking."

"Talking?" Sakura was incredulous, and good reason for that too. Naruto left _them. _Would he care about talking about the past?

"See if we can strike a weak spot. Maybe something's changed within him, a new vulnerability." Shikamaru suggested it, yet there was something lacking even in his voice. Sakura thinned her lips, remembering random snatches of Hotaru's cryptic words.

_Deadly assassins…merciless killers… know no mercy. They kill everyone and raze everything…eyes of a demon…blood red…the likes to those two that the world has never seen before._

What if Naruto had changed? Changed irreparably? The Naruto Sakura remembered and had been friends with never killed—even less for fun. He had had a sense of duty, of some silly sort of protection, trying to save everything and everyone that came along his path who needed his help.

If he had changed this much, who was he anymore?

That was the question she was constantly asking herself, not knowing if there was even an answer anymore.

Minutes later, they joined the throng crowding at the village doors, humming nervously among themselves. Rumors jumped from mouth to mouth. It was like all of Konoha's chunin and up population had turned out at the gates, just to see some 'momentous' occasion happen, even if the ninja themselves weren't going to fight.

Sakura pushed through the crowds, once shoving a younger, short chunin into an older jounin by accident. She muttered an apology as she continued shoving her way to the front so that she could leave before the other teams as planned. Neji was already lounging there with Lee doing stretches at his side; Tenten tested a dangerous-looking metal bar with iron spikes on the end, throwing it up in the air and twirling it around like a baton, narrowly missing an ANBU's mask, before catching it neatly. Sakura applauded.

"Sakura! You're fighting too? Well, of course," Tenten quickly corrected herself. She hefted the bar again before snatching a scroll from somewhere behind her back, flashing it open and sealing the weapon away. "Sufficiently supplied, I trust?"

"The medic, I have to be," Sakura answered, laughing. This light banter, she wondered, how could she not have missed it before?

Too immersed in her own struggles, her own conflicts, to notice that around her everyone was experiencing the same things. How so much like Sasuke, she couldn't help but notice a little bitterly.

Shaking her head, Sakura motioned toward the crowd. "So how many of us are going anyway?"

Tenten shrugged. The answer came from Shikamaru, who had finally been pushed out of the crowd. He looked tired, but not any more than usual. Yawning, he sat down. "Hokage-sama said something like twenty chunin squads, thirty jounin, a three full squadrons of ANBU for backup as we four teams go in ahead. Not too mention backup behind all that too."

Chouji suddenly came from the crowds then, nearly knocking Shikamaru over. Ino emerged after, flinging herself to Sakura's side. Sakura barely noticed, too busy catching all the information Shikamaru had carelessly flung out. So many people… just for what used to be a sorta-kinda-maybe harmless gennin and a dark, broody Uchiha and some crazy S-class rogue ninjas... okay, maybe the protection was necessary. Still, she felt a thrill of excitement, fear mixed incongruously in with it. First people on the scene—first people to analyze the damage, the first to try and stop it.

She glanced up when Kiba's team arrived. Akamaru barked loudly to announce their arrival to anyone who might possibly have missed it, Hinata blushing a little on the side. Shino was inspecting his sleeves; possibly looking for some bug spies hidden away? Sakura could never tell anyway.

Sai brushed her shoulder companiobly, not talking but offering silent support nonetheless. Sakura let her eyes wander over the mass of people, catching some familiar faces here and there.

There were the chunin guards that often helped (and complained all the while) Tsunade-sama; Anko, their once upon a time exam teacher; Morino Ibiki, probably in charge of torturing any people they brought back. Yamato (or Tenzo, as she had actually learned a few days ago) was conversing with some other masked people, waving his hand around; Kurenai and Gai with two other jounins. What would become of her baby? Sakura thought. What would happen if she should die? Who else would die today in some fruitless struggle against something that, in reality, should only be resolved between the Konoha 10 and the two missing-nins?

There was a loud crack then, disturbing her somewhat dark train of thought. Tsunade stood above the crowd at the top of the rebuilt wall, hair flying in the wind. Her eyes were fierce and proud; a medic's pack was strapped to her waist. The crowd murmured.

"Tsunade-sama is going into the war too," Hinata said softly, twisting her fingers around a lock of hair. She looked too fragile for such a fight.

"Konoha! You have been called together for a reason, and all those selected to fight know what it is. We are going to—"

For a wild, horrible moment, Sakura thought that Tsunade would actually reveal Naruto and all that he was and all that he had become. For one wild, terribly long moment, her heart hung still as Tsunade's words slowed through her ears… but then she said _'fight the Akatsuki' _and Sakura's heart beat again.

_But would it have been better for her to have told them about Naruto, so that they knew what to be prepared for?_

_Whose lives are we sacrificing exactly?_

"This might be war, Konoha shinobi! We must be prepared for _anything_." Tsunade looked sternly down upon her people, the ones she'd sworn to protect with her life, and all of the Konoha 10 knew what she was silently saying. They must be prepared for Naruto.

"Expect the unexpected in war," Tsunade finally finished, throwing up her arm. "Now, strategies. The analyzing corps have come up with multiple strategies we could go into this with. First of all, though, we are sending in four cells."

The crowd mumbled again. Once more, the Konoha 10 caught the words—filled with pity and said with sad, noble shakes of their heads—_So that's what the diversion will be. _

Tsunade ignored the noise. "They will be the teams of Haruno Sakura, Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Neji, and Inuzuka Kiba. Nara Shikamaru will be their squadron leader. We will act upon what they send us. A flare for strategy one, two flares for strategy two, and three for the third. We will wait an interval of an hour before sending reinforcements in if there are still no flares."

"An hour?" cried a shinobi from the throng. "Isn't that too long? They could die!"

"They wouldn't," Tsunade answered confidently, maybe too confidently, Sakura thought. "Because they are doing this for a cause."

The ninja settled back, satisfied. Only the Konoha 10 knew what kind of cause they were really fighting for, though. Tsunade snapped her fingers, slamming her palm down right where the two doors split. They rumbled open with a dull thud. "Now, depart!"

With no room left for surprise or hesitation or fear in their hearts, the named teams set out, flashing away like lightning. Tsunade stood on the wall observing them a little longer _(what if this will be the last sight I have of them…ever) _before someone gently touched her arm. She turned snappishly to see it was Homura, who bowed once before gesturing toward the departing teams.

"Do you think they will be safe, Tsunade-hime?" he asked, stern eyes gazing off. "I remember what it was like to go off in war. We all wanted the glory, the knowledge that we were the saviors of Konoha. However, only one person got that, and that was the Hokage." He chuckled, a rare fit of ease for the usually aloof man. "But somehow, I get the feeling that they won't go looking for honor."

"They're fighting for something bigger," Tsunade said stiffly. Not because she didn't respond to kindness, or because she didn't like the man; it was because she didn't know how to answer something like that from the person who'd been against her for so long. It was simply unfathomable and strange.

"You are venerable, Hokage-sama," Homura continued, turning to look down at all the people still walking about below. "Well-respected and accepted by the villagers. They answer to you, but who do you answer to?"

Tsunade opened her mouth, unable to contain her snarky remark that would probably be better left unsaid. Homura shook his graying head once and departed, a poof of smoke lingering in the clone's stead. _"Just think about it, Tsunade. Who is the one you will risk everything for? Is he worth it?"_

"Naruto…" she whispered.

Was he worth it? Was he worth everything?

* * *

><p>Nakami brushed her fingers along the wall, feeling a burst of static come to life. It was humid outside, then. Not raining yet.<p>

She closed her eyes, fingers lingering against the wall. The same effervescent spark tingled through her again, so similar to static, yet it was not the same at all. This thrill came from the knowledge that she was about to do something forbidden; terribly, irrevocably, completely forbidden.

She was going to escape. And by God, she would.

"Sasuke should have tried harder to keep me in here," Nakami murmured as she examined the boulder again. A intricate mess of traps lay focused around the cave, but he had never bothered to seal the boulder any more than two or three seals. It had taken her over three years to formulate a good, well-thought out escape plan (and all the consequences that could happen) but here she was, carrying it out.

And good timing too.

The last time she'd seen Naruto and Sasuke, Madara was close. Too close. She had to get out of here before something drastic happened, and she could feel it happening, right there in the place where someone alive would have a heart.

If she didn't get to Naruto in time, it would be too late. He would either succumb to the Kyuubi or die, and both were not acceptable choices.

"Ready, Nakami?" she breathed to herself, cracking her knuckles. A list of seals scrolled through her mind again, helpfully pilfered from Sasuke when she was taking memories from him.

Monkey, horse, tiger, ox, tiger, dog… Five minutes and three seconds later, she slammed both hands just to the barest right of the boulder blocking her way, careful to miss the center by half a centimeter. A bead of sweat dripped down the side of her face as, for a terrifyingly still second, nothing happened. A beat passed. And another. Then—

The rock cracked in half, deliberate as it would if a lightning bolt struck it. One side rolled inward, the other out toward the corridor with light streaming weakly in. Nakami flipped backwards just in time to miss a series of explosions as the stone triggered a few of the traps Sasuke had painstakingly set. A genjutsu shimmered into place, reflecting the light at strange angles; Nakami studied it, looking for the spot that promised freedom. To the left somewhere, up more, right a tiny bit… there. She snatched a shard of pottery she'd found, hidden in a dusty corner from some long ago tantrum Sasuke had thrown, and shot it with all the deadly accuracy of a ninja toward the small, nearly invisible hole in the shimmery barrier.

It pierced through, triggering another trap that started to leak water in from roof of the corridor. The barrier popped like a bubble, and Nakami propelled herself forward, running alongside the wall briefly to escape the stream of acidic water. She leaped over a set of explosion tags, slid under the wires set to react at a butterfly's touch, and avoided more deadly traps. Minutes, too long but so short, passed. And then she was free for the first time in years.

Nakami breathed deeply, taking in a huge gulp of air. Not cave air, but fresh, clean air. "Mission escape, corroborated," she whispered, smiling softly.

She turned to study the cave she'd evacuated. Why Sasuke bothered to activate and change the traps every time he 'visited' was beyond her. In reality, the only reason that had taken her so long to escape was her own hesitation that bound her; her own stupid sense of loyalty, the same that protested violently when she'd witnessed another of Sasuke's team leaving him.

It was the notion, she thought quietly as she wrapped another stolen explosive tag around her shard of pottery. The notion of loyalty. The idea to escape, the _yes _that granted her freedom—that was what had kept her guessing for so long. The traps were but an easy task to deal with, a few days of planning and nothing more.

Her own stupid loyalty had bound her for so long. But now freedom was right there. So close.

Nakami flung the shard at her old home—if she could really, truly call it that—and watched as it burned in flames. It seemed even stone could catch on fire; even the darkest places could permit light.

She turned away at last, the images of flames still flickering in her eyes. This time it was reflection of her inner self and the promise she'd silently endowed on herself. She had knowledge. Nakami wasn't one to waste it.

_I will free you, Naruto. Free you from the shackles of the Kyuubi, because I know how to seal it away._

_Forever._

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Assuming he's still 'Madara' in here and not the <em><span>spoiler<span>_ random person who is nobody and yet somehow related to Madara _end _he will be old. Really old.**

**So, as promised, Death is now up. Yay! Hehe, if you would be so kind as to leave a review here or there, either one is fine *shrugs* I just like to know if my readers enjoy my writing. That said, I still think DA is coming to a close. If anyone has suggestions or requests for my next fic, I would be glad to listen!**

**Thanks for reading another chapter! (oh my) :)**

**TBC!**

**P.S. A merry Christmas to all those who celebrate it. Happy winter holidays to everyone else! It'll be almost 2012 next time we meet! :O Almost…**


	35. Chapter Thirty Three

**SORRY SORRY SORRY for the super late chapter. I have a million and one excuses, including writer's block and lack of ramen… :(**

**A/N: And now, first off, I'd like to say, uh, if you leave an anonymous review and want an answer to a question (or even if you don't, but leave constructive criticism) it would be so much easier if you left some way I could get back to you privately. I know leaving emails is strange for most, but…I dunno. I guess it's an understandable misconception that authors will bite your head off if you leave criticism, but I wouldn't (I will if you leave a serious flaming review and I will delete that) if it's just improving my writing. I'm going to rewrite this fic later, after I'm done, and fill in all the holes, including the prologue (which isn't the best I've written hehe) and some of the fight scenes… They are sadly lacking in the strength part. I guess action just isn't my forte. XD**

**So that said, I apologize for the super long rant and again the delayed chapter ^^; If you really wanna know why I didn't update, you can check my profile. If you just want to read my story—then go for it! I'll ramble more at the bottom.**

**Disclaimer: Guess what my new year's resolution is? I bet you would never know.**

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><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Thirty-Three<strong>

_All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain. –_Roy Batty: Blade Runner

_The walls we build around us to keep out the sadness also keep out the joy. _–Jim Rohn

"Shikamaru! To the left," called Neji from a few feet away. Lee and Tenten flashed between the trees behind him, matching the quick pace Neji set. Shikamaru nodded briskly, veering toward the left, hearing his team _(his team—he wouldn't let them down this time) _follow him.

Already, they were wasting time, he reflected. Strategies more complex than shogi could ever get flashed through his mind; there was so much more at stake here than a simple game with tiles representing people, because he was moving _ninjas_, he was moving his friends. They were entrusting him with their lives, and he had to act his part as leader and make sure none of them died.

Inevitably, though, there would have to be deaths.

"Three o'clock, a large chakra is moving away from us," Hinata said sharply, her voice growing confident as she was caught up in the adrenaline rush of the moment. Kiba narrowed his eyes, discerning the acrid smell wafting through the air. Shino confirmed her statement, and Shikamaru adjusted his course again.

"Wait! There's someone just ahead of us," Neji hissed. Instantaneously, the Konoha 10 slowed down as a group, moving silently through the shadows. They could all sense the malicious chakra—it was Sasuke. Not exactly the one they were looking for, but good enough anyway.

Shikamaru raised a finger, signaling that they should do the first strategy he'd prepared. Go on the defense to avoid any offense, then analyze further. Leaping in with wildly uncoordinated attacks would only serve to hurt them, as learned from the disastrous battle in Suna against Naruto. Tenten crept to the front of the group, twirling a kunai once expertly between her nimble fingers before slinging it off into the woods. The explosive tag wrapped around it hissed before they heard a dull thunk, signaling it had landed.

In the next instant and a half, the Konoha 10 scrambled to their positions. Shikamaru extended his shadow, reaching for the Uchiha in the dark; after all, wasn't the dark where he was in his element?

The smoke filtered away. The man who was once their teammate—if not friend, for Sasuke had been too cold, too wrapped up in his destiny to befriend anybody—stood, bound by Shikamaru's shadows, immobile. He looked cold and indifferent, uncaring, like he always had been. And that in itself was the difference between him and Naruto.

The only reason they were even bothering with Sasuke right now was because of Naruto—what he had wanted, what Sakura wanted. If she couldn't have Naruto because of the death sentence placed on his head and she couldn't have Kakashi because he was already gone, she should at least get a chance at Sasuke, since ironically, he was the only one they could save now.

None of the Konoha 10 liked to see each other suffer.

"Kagemane no Jutsu, complete," he said off-handedly, still unable to mask the lazy tone that seemed ingrown in him after all these years.

Sasuke said nothing, hand twitching the smallest bit by his side. Shikamaru kept one eye on him while he addressed the rest of his squadron, aware that time was ticking away by the second. They couldn't afford Tsunade sending reinforcements after them—it would only prevent them from their final goal.

"We have to separate," he began clearly. In his head echoed routinely the word _'troublesome'. _"Half of us stay here and deal with … Sasuke. The other half goes after Naruto, got it?"

"So who goes?" Neji asked.

Shikamaru frowned. They didn't want to kill Sasuke yet; the Hokage hadn't said anything about that, after all. But they had to fulfill their mission to Naruto—for Naruto—so for people strong enough to take him down...

"Sakura," he decided. She would have to go for sure, or else she'd put up some Tsunade-worthy fit. The mere thought of it made Shikamaru shudder. "You and Sai." They would need long-distance fighters, maybe one or two short-distance thrown in if Naruto, by some lucky chance, got tired. A tracker too.

That left few people. "Okay, Sai, Sakura, Neji, Tenten, me and Kiba will be going after Naruto. The rest of you will have to detain him." He nodded toward Sasuke, fully aware that Ino, Chouji, Hinata, Shino and Lee would not be able to stop Sasuke if he decided to completely attack. Just as Naruto could probably overpower their little force of six, it didn't matter. They had to try, and that was the end of the matter.

To try… To give it their all and hope for the best outcome, because by now, the future was a dark and unforeseeable mess, no longer quite the neat and defined future of the olden days. As people grew up, their lives changed inexplicably, and thus did their destinies.

"When we catch up to Naruto, within ten minutes I'll send a flare or more," Shikamaru said. "Ino, do what you have to right now to stall." He nodded toward the blonde girl, and she nodded back before setting her fingers in a firm seal toward her former love. "One. Two…"

Even before three, the six named ninjas were leaping backward, racing into the leafless skeletons of trees without a backwards glance. They didn't need to see their comrades as if it were the last time they would ever see them. That was how a shinobi operated; forget about those you leave behind, especially in a time like this, because to remember could cause your own death and destruction.

There was a loud explosion as Shikamaru and his smaller team jumped over trees, vaulting around trunks that appeared mid-air and ducking under stark branches. The shock force ricocheted around them, pulsing through the air before sliding away.

They didn't look back.

Only forward—into the future.

Those who looked into the past were trapped forever by all their mistakes and all their misfortune. Only those who chose to live in the present, look for the future, could truly _live. _

A ninja with their mind stuck in the past were usually bound by vengeance or grief, like Sasuke. A ninja who concentrated on the here and now, never worrying about the next day or if it would be their last, could truly devote themselves—all of them—to the Village they'd pledged their allegiance to.

It was an unspoken rule that too many 'could've-been-great' ninjas broke.

And so they bounded forward, never forgetting but leaving their comrades behind, as they sought for something worth more—something that they no longer had, and wished more than anything they could have kept. It was a futile wish.

Kiba's head snapped up abruptly as he zoned in on Naruto's scent, an unmistakable stench of burning. It didn't take Shikamaru's genius IQ to figure out where Naruto had been headed; the burned tree stumps and smoke and scattering animals told it all. They were finally getting close to their once-upon-a-time friend again, and this time, they had to do it right.

"Assess the situation, then attack when I direct you to," Shikamaru said in a low voice, eyes hard as emotions were stored carefully away. In this battle, there was no place for feelings. It was too late to say anything to Naruto, say anything _for _Naruto. Nothing would change him, and they had to accept that.

There was nothing left for them anymore.

* * *

><p>"One hour is almost up, Hokage-sama," an ANBU said quietly behind her.<p>

Tsunade didn't turn. She stared unseeingly out over her village, standing on top of the Sandaime's head, three of five in a grand line of Hokage successions. Her own face didn't deserve to be memorialized up here, Tsunade knew. Not like Naruto's did; not like his would have.

"Fifty minutes have passed," said another ANBU, this time a bit louder with a deeper voice than the first. The platoon of highly elite ninjas behind her had been crouching for over an hour, a testimony of their stamina and strength to be able to stay in one place for so long and not complain. It was either that or their loyalty to the village, so great that little could deter them.

Tsunade was that loyal. She was, and so she would do anything for her village; even die if need be. So why, sometimes, did she wish she wasn't so loyal? So unwilling to desert it?

Her heart seized again for a painful moment, saddening her but hardening her for what lay ahead: death and carnage. Knowing eyes overlooked her village one more time, raking it and the now familiar sight of construction and wood, before shooting toward the forests bordering the great village.

Smoke trails lit the air like beacons, dull and spindly, almost vanishing entirely in the cloud atmosphere. It was almost like a graveyard. Tsunade shuddered slightly as her mind made the connection between the skeleton-like trees and creepy trails of smoke. An occasional explosion dotted the area like brightly lit fireworks, transient before evaporating again.

There was still no sign of the thing the Hokage had been looking for though, and that confused her and frustrated her all at once.

She'd trusted Shikamaru, and Tsunade believed that that trust hadn't been put vainly or blindly. Shikamaru was a capable, smart shinobi, demonstrated by his promotion to chunin—the only one out of many older ninja. Despite that one failure marked on his record (the one that resulted in Sasuke's departure) it hardly marred the terrific successes of his other missions.

Why should this one be any different? Shikamaru could do it. He could lead them through—and the rest of the Konoha 10 had equal wills to his. They wanted to do this. They had volunteered, and they had deserved it.

Her words echoed strong in her mind, almost completely reassuring her. Even if the flares hadn't come yet, they would arrive soon. Just a little more patience, never mind the fact that her set hour (she had believed they could accomplish most of what they set out to do within that hour) was nearly up.

The time was ticking away, and she could do nothing to stop the grains from falling between her fingers and blowing away.

Another firecracker of explosions, quick and in succession, lit the area. Smoke billowed up into the air, making Tsunade furrow her brows in frustration. What if Shikamaru had already sent a flare? That was one of the many worries that plagued her. It could've easily been hidden by one of the mushroom clouds continuing to blossom every five minutes. The ones she'd sworn to protect could be dying—_or dead_—by now, and she would've just been standing here!

The more Tsunade thought about it, the more worried she became.

"Fifty-eight minutes," said a female ANBU, her voice tense and low. Tsunade could hear the tiniest fidgeting and rustles of clothing behind her. The ANBU were getting anxious at the long wait, as much as she was. Her hand clenched deep into her palm and her eyes glared across the wide expanse of forest, as if that alone would make the flare come up.

And to her stark surprise, an incendiary flare of brilliant sparks shot up into the sky, looking like a meteor as it streaked into the clouds. Tsunade noted the direction it had come from, watching to see if another one was launched. A second later, another one rocketed skyward before fizzling away.

"Out!" Tsunade yelled, and the ANBUs flashed away. Some went directly to the front gates, while others shot to tell the strategy corps.

There had been three strategies Shikaku and she had carefully developed with Shikamaru, plotting out everything way things could go wrong. The first one had been there for as long as Tsunade could remember: one flare meant, as any good shinobi knew, that the target was captured. Killed. Whatever the mission required. She had to admit, when that flare had gone up, she'd hoped for just one. A good-bye to Naruto would have been nice, but knowing that the threat was gone _(that the stranger was gone) _would have been better.

When one flare was sent up, a small group of reinforcements could move in and treat injured shinobi and generally clean up the area, leaving behind no one who could rekindle whatever they had just destroyed. One flare was good. Two was bad.

It wasn't as terrible as three though, Tsunade had to concede. Three meant that the target had gotten completely away; the mission was thrown, over, done, but not in the good way. Three meant they had failed—again. At least there hadn't been three, because the consequences of three flares meant sending out most of Konoha.

Two flares. Tsunade frowned as she raced along the rooftops, heading toward the front gates of the village where a large crowd had amassed. It was compiled all of ninjas, from women to men, ANBU to medics to jounins to some select chunins. Gennins had been herded carefully away, and their senseis had left to join the army.

It was a good enough force to take on whatever was left. Two flares were both good and bad in its own right. Good because it meant Naruto hadn't fled. Bad because it meant Naruto wasn't dead either, and also because it meant that things had gotten complicated.

It could be any variety of reasons Shikamaru had sent up the two flares. Judging from the location she'd tracked and the amount of attacks set up around that area, Tsunade knew that Naruto was probably having staging some explosive attacks against the Konoha 10. Nothing they couldn't weather, but still worrisome. Also the fact that the location was in the smack middle of the forest didn't help; it was at least a mile away.

Tsunade sighed, feeling the duties of the Hokage weigh down on her again. They should've made more layers to the two flares signal. To be more exact. Now she would have to do trial and error, which was positively annoying.

How was she supposed to know how many to send? How many teams? How many to go around, how many to go straight in? How many to keep back for reinforcements, or just let them all go? Or even the more personal questions. Were they still alive, all of them? Was Naruto still alive—would he _be _alive by the time she got there? Too many questions, no time to answer a single one.

She reached the gates of Konoha, where crowds were already milling, buzzing to each other. Younger, just-made jounin whispered excitedly about possible fights that they would star in, be the hero of, hopeful dreams that may or may not come true. Hopeful _ninjas,_ who may or may not die today, Tsunade thought. It all depended on those two flares.

Her eyes scanned the crowd as they hushed instinctively at the sight of their Hokage, flanked by crowds of ANBU. Their masks were white and pristine, fulfilling their duty of masking their emotions. Their katanas, polished in their sheathes, were strapped to their side; a plethora of deadly, hidden weapons resided within their clothing and cloaks.

Tsunade ignored the stares and respectful silences, scanning the crowd for the one figure that could help her. She spotted Nara Shikaku leaning against the main gates, and ignoring the eyes on her and the burdens pressing down on her shoulders, she strode purposefully toward him. Before any of them could act, she had to sort out what to do. Analytical strategies had never been her strong point.

"Tsunade-sama." Shikaku nodded. "I trust you've seen the flares?"

"Yes," she replied shortly. "Center of the forest, a large number of attacks around that area. What does it mean?" Tsunade slightly regretted that she was being harsher than usual to Shikaku, who certainly didn't deserve her snappish words, but temper was short around this time of the year anyway.

"Well, like you said, that is probably Naruto's fault." His eyes, sharp but with the undeniable 'Nara' lazy look in them, stared at her knowingly. He was one of the few who remembered Naruto, if only to make sure that he could protect his village if the jinchuuriki returned in a deadlier way.

Tsunade couldn't help thinking bitterly, _Too bad he was right. I guess that's why they call him a genius, huh._

"If you noticed, the smoke drifting from that area was also more than the others. He is probably in some tailed form. On the other hand, there were two other areas with disturbingly large attacks; one just a little south, the other a bit east. The one south had the occasional lightning flashes, making me believe that that one was probably Sasuke's battle. The other one was on a smaller scale, almost as if it was two people fighting."

"Three battles," Tsunade muttered, turning her eyes to the forest surrounding Konoha. "Send three separate forces in?"

"Only one to Naruto first," Shikaku said, assessing their forces. "Send some around too, in case he needs to be blocked off. As soon as the main force is taken care of, then we can worry about the other battles. I don't think the two fighting is much of a problem, maybe two or three squads to them. The rest then can go to the second largest fight."

Tsunade made a noise of recognition and turned to her forces, surveying them. It was wide variety to choose from, obviously, even among themselves—trackers, sensory types, those that excelled at genjutsu, taijutsu experts, fire or water or wind specialists, and the occasional strategic one littered the crowd. She put her hands on her hips, panic pressing down on her in the backs of her mind. Who to choose?

"How long do you think it will take Suna to get here?" Tsunade asked Shikaku, just for something to say. She was already separating the ninjas by rank and skill in her mind, putting aside more than half to go aid those fighting Naruto.

_Ha, I guess all those preparations to ensure they would never remember Naruto didn't work after all. In the end, these ninjas will know who the cursed Kyuubi jinchuuriki is, and how he died fighting…died fighting as a traitor. _That was the last thing Tsunade had wanted for Naruto. Now it looked like it was the only choice.

"…here already," Shikaku was saying. "Tsunade-sama."

"What?" she asked sharply, picking up the last two words. "What do you mean, here already?"

"Exactly that. I picked up a distinct wave a sand, small but unmistakably the Kazekage's. I couldn't actually see if he brought reinforcements or just happened to be in the area, granted," Shikaku admitted, "but it seemed likely that there were some others with him. I don't know of any others that can manipulate sand anyway, so it must have been the Kazekage…"

Did that mean Gaara was already there? Helping them? Tsunade felt her heart skip a beat; her chance to say good-bye to Naruto was already as good as gone. She closed her eyes for a brief second before opening them, determined to continue on with her plans.

"Thank you for the information, Shikaku," she said briskly, striding away from the strategist.

After that, the next two minutes were a blur of people moving to one side while vacating the others, forming into three distinct groups. They stood in rows, and as soon as Tsunade motioned, the largest group were led away by the Hokage herself. Unlike normal leaders—unlike the daimyos—the Kages never skimped on their duties of leading the village. If the leader didn't even bother going the fight, why should the shinobi? The Kage was always first in the battle.

And so Konoha moved again, forward—always forward.

Tsunade didn't know what to expect when she reached the site of Naruto's attack. A dead body of someone she'd once cherished, maybe. More than one dead body, for sure. Charred tree trunks, screaming, jutsus flying everywhere.

What she got was definitely not what she expected.

She hadn't been expecting a wave of chakra, intensely bright…so bright. Chakra strands of those she recognized (that shouldn't be alive, no less) and those she didn't scattered through the air, but the most poignant, noticeable one was Naruto's.

Then a flash lit the area, causing her to halt and throw up an arm to cover her eyes, her ninjas crying out behind her.

She hadn't been expecting a transformation.

* * *

><p>Sasuke felt Ino's soul enter his body, a slightly jarring shock that came with having your own soul pushed out. Of course, his outward face and body didn't display any emotion.<p>

It wasn't like Ino would—could—stay long anyway. Uchihas didn't allow others to take over; it simply wasn't part of their personality.

Ino, on the other hand, knew all that. Fear lurked deep in her mind, but she had pushed it away to do what she was supposed to, for the sake of her teammates. Stall the one they had all given up on (unlike Naruto) and then make him disappear too. That was a ninja's job.

"You shouldn't be here," Sasuke told her coldly, almost too calmly as he leaned against an invisible black wall. He hadn't been pushed out like most of the victims of the Yamanakas' mind jutsu. Maybe it was his eyes, like how they had captured Orochimaru in a genjutsu before devouring his soul. Those cursed eyes, it was always them.

"I know that," Ino said softly, hands clenched. She couldn't stop the finest of trembles to shake her limbs, always expecting something deeper and deadlier to pop up. Sasuke's mind was nothing like Naruto's, and that was both good and bad. Naruto had a demon—Ino could never forget that terrifying experience—but his mindscape was lighter than Sasuke's could ever be. It was bright, but with a deadly light. Sasuke's was coated in shadows at every corner, masking whatever lay ahead, preventing any sort of foresight.

"Then you must either be brave or foolish," Sasuke replied idly, "though I think it's the latter."

His eyes blazed red and Ino shut her eyes, feeling herself being expelled back into her body with a crashing headache.

Chouji saw his teammate jerk before falling forward again limply, breathing hard. He turned his eyes to Sasuke quickly, but it was too late. Something deadly arced through the air, searing the very molecules, before igniting in the air and forcing them backwards in the resulting shock wave.

It knocked over a couple trees and created a dust cloud thick enough to get lost in. Hinata hit the ground, an _oof _escaping her lips. She rolled for a couple feet before her back hit a rock, knocking the breath even further from her lungs. Struggling to her feet almost immediately, she stifled the urge to cry her teammate's name to search for him. Silence—quiet. She needed to be quiet.

Wordlessly, Hinata activated her Byakugan, knowing that Sasuke could easily catch her chakra signature when she triggered her bloodline, but accepting that she had no other choice if she wanted to help her comrades.

A scan of the area showed nothing particularly helpful. Chouji and Ino had been blown back more than she had, and Shino was standing nearby. Lee had already bounced to his feet, but was on the opposite side of the clearing. And Sasuke had disappeared entirely, not that that was unexpected of him.

She crept to the side, eyes flashing around. Would Sasuke have left? It was very possible. He hadn't struck her as the running type, being an Uchiha (she would know, Hyuugas weren't trained to run either) but…maybe living as a missing-nin did that to people. Her eyes dropped for a second, and that was her mistake.

"Hinata!" came the cry from the right, as something hit the back of her neck.

Luckily, Hinata had sensed Sasuke's chakra a millisecond before he'd appeared, and she managed to roll forward and somewhat deflect the blow. Her legs still buckled and her limbs felt strangely heavy to move, but it was better than becoming unconscious and a burden.

Ino lunged forward, kunai stretched in her hand. Chouji yelled something about expanding jutsu and his hand enlarged to disproportionate sizes, smashing the ground where Sasuke was to pieces. Sasuke himself reappeared in the center of the original clearing, sliding his Kusanagi out with a graceful carelessness. His eyes were black, showing that he wasn't really serious about fighting them; he just had nothing better to do.

Hinata gritted her teeth painfully, the beginnings of a headache starting to throb behind her eyes, forcing her Byakugan to deactivate and reveal the dust thinning. How dare Sasuke pretend like this wasn't important—it was very important to all of them, and every part of it was for the ones they had sworn to protect. So they would either kill Sasuke or they would defeat him and bring him to Konoha, though both were unlikely.

They just had to try.

"Severe leaf hurricane!" Lee's leg swung at Sasuke, missing by a large margin as the Uchiha leaped into the air. However, Lee wasn't done. He flipped so he was balancing on his hands (running around the village on his hands after each 'goal' he set for himself failed did some good after all) and propelled himself off the ground, actually landing a hit on Sasuke, forcing him to fall forward.

Shino shot out his arms then, and bugs flowed out of his sleeves like a black exodus. They covered Sasuke completely, and for a second, they all allowed themselves to hope that it was over.

Lightning flashed off of the Uchiha, arcing through the air as bugs fell dead. Shino clenched his hands, attracting Hinata's attention as Ino took the time to briefly tend to her paralyzed limbs. "Shino-kun…" she whispered, seeing the determined expression on his face.

"Nobody kills my bugs like that," he replied lowly. "It is our duty. We will detain Uchiha Sasuke."

Within minutes, Hinata was back on her feet, fueled by pure willpower. Sometimes she would flash in and try (sometimes it worked) to land some gentle fist techniques on Sasuke, blocking some important chakra points. Other times Shino would distract him long enough for Lee to land more brutal taijutsu attacks on him, and once in a while Ino's mind destruction techniques seemed to work, if only to weaken Sasuke's mental blocks for the tiniest amount of time. Chouji once even managed to grasp Sasuke, and Lee had almost delivered a crushing blow reinforced by opening the first gate.

On the other hand, Sasuke was defending himself equally well. He was breathing almost as hard as the rest of them, granted, and sweating, but his eyes remained cold and black. Black was scrawled across his face like someone had taken a marker to the pale skin, and there were two tears in his shirt where he'd blocked one of Hinata and Lee's combined attacks with gruesomely ugly wings.

"This isn't working," Ino gasped a few minutes—hours—how long was it?—later. Her blue eyes showed fatigue and she gripped a kunai with two prongs carefully. If Hinata activated her Byakugan, she would've seen Ino's chakra flowing through the weapon, strengthening her aim with her own medically-enhanced chakra.

"We need to try," Lee said.

"But how long will we last?" Chouji muttered. "Maybe we need to start breaking out our last reserves." He took out a container with three pills in it, causing Ino to look sharply at her teammate in alarm.

"Don't, Chouji! Shikamaru should send the flare soon!"

"We—"

In a second, everything changed.

The world rocked, tilting, almost like it was some giant earthquake. Everyone could sense the hair-raising killer intent flooding through the air, one from the east, one from the north. One was cold (and it was then they realized belatedly that Sasuke had left) and the other searing hot.

_Naruto, _they thought as one, already racing through the trees, forgetting their soreness. What was going on?

A blinding light greeted them, and when it cleared…

Everything was different.

* * *

><p>Achieving what he had set out to do was going to be harder than he originally thought.<p>

Not only was it entirely the Kyuubi's fault—for being lazy and _sleeping _when he should be helping, and thus resulting in Naruto having to exert more energy just to manipulate the demon's chakra—Pein and Konan continued to distract him.

Normally, he would have bent that to his advantage and coerce chakra from the stubborn Nine-tails, saying things like _'I need the energy to fight someone like this'_, but it was pretty obvious that such a strategy was not going to work this time. The Kyuubi seemed firmly asleep, if not for the small growls that escaped every time Naruto attempted to grasp the thick, voracious, bubbling orange chakra. Another side effect was that his own chakra no longer appeared the mixed purple; whatever little chakra he gleaned from the Kyuubi became a fiery orange, scalding his skin. It was bad enough when the fox took over during Naruto's 'weak' moments, when he let anger or sadness get the best of him (as he was, unfortunately, completely prone to do) and those feelings muffled the sensation of pain. Now, without that emotional barrier, he could feel every nerve tingling in red-hot aching sparks, constantly reminding him of the acidic chakra.

Needless to say, it was slightly painful and utterly frustrated Naruto to no end.

Pein rushed toward him again, one arm outstretched, a sharpened pole sliding out of the sleeve with a practiced, fluid ease. Naruto felt the pull of gravity constrict around him, lifting him toward Pein. Meanwhile, Konan was fashioning something in her hands, something light and crinkly; most likely more paper explosives, Naruto thought.

His back hit a tree, the consequence of his brief lack of attention. There—another side effect of the Kyuubi's absence. Sometime over the years, Naruto had come to rely on the fox more than he'd thought possible. Not only did he depend on him to supply a large chakra force, he also had listened to the demon fill his head with thoughts of darkness and clever strategies, always telling him what to do and the best way to do it, keeping him focused on whatever task was at hand.

A possibly fatal (if this absent-minded distraction kept up) mistake on his part, he knew.

So with that in mind, he refocused his eyes on the blurring figures of the two Akatsuki members.

It was almost scary how they moved without communicating, yet always performing jutsus or attacks that complimented the other's style. Was this what became of those who worked with each other for so long that their partner's attacks became ingrained in them?

A spark of something bloomed in Naruto's chest. Regret. Lately, he'd been feeling more and more emotions, strange since he had thought the Kyuubi's fire had burned them all away, hollowed him out. Maybe it was a sign…

Pein suddenly appeared in front of him, forcing Naruto to duck and spin away, Rasengan coming to life in his palms. Not only was it annoying fighting noiseless people, they moved so fast and fluidly and efficiently that Naruto had little time (if any) to come up with more creative attacks that allowed more room for him to move. He thrust the chakra ball forward, narrowly missing Pein. His other hand swiped upward, equipped with a harsh wind chakra in its purest form.

That particular attack was something he'd learned in the latter of half of his two years as a missing-nin. Much like Sasuke's lightning jutsus, the wind chakra cut through materials like a paper shredder, messily without the cleanliness of lightning or burn of fire. Sure, if concentrated on a special chakra-circulating weapon, like Asuma's blades, they were neat and sliced like a steel blade through butter, but in its raw form, it wasn't like that.

The only problem with it was that after each use, the intervals in which he could reuse it grew longer and longer. Starting with ten minutes, if he was using the Kyuubi's chakra, then slowly growing to a whole day. It was also a pain to keep the chakra focused around his hand at all times, resulting in a somewhat raggedy edged tool, blobby and not entirely focused.

Because of all that, and his lack of demon's chakra to back him up, Naruto rarely chose to use it. Now, he had no other choice than to fall back on his jutsu; he could only hope it wouldn't hurt him in the long run.

His hand nicked Pein's coat, slicing the already tattered fabric neatly. It cut into the flesh a little before the Akatsuki member leaped away. Naruto was already turning, expecting Konan's attack—and it came, smoothly and silently like a snake.

He blocked her attack easily. It was so strange fighting this pair, stronger than any missing-nin he had ever faced; yet, it was bizarrely easy to block their attacks. It was like a dance, free of designs, repeating endlessly, but every step different. Naruto flipped backwards, ending up perched on a tree branch, ready to begin the dance all over again.

His hand was still lifted, the slicing blue-white chakra flaring outwards slightly before condensing again. Naruto's hand didn't hurt yet, and it wouldn't hurt for longer if he still had the Kyuubi's protection. Unfortunately, his tails had dissipated since fighting Pein and Konan didn't hold the same adrenaline normal attacks did. It was too silent, too choreographed for Naruto and the fox's liking, and as a result, the chakra coating had died away. A small trace of the chakra could be found around his body, but not much.

Pein and Konan stood an exact distance away from each other, staring at him, waiting for him to move so they could attack accordingly. It was disconcerting—like they weren't using their full strength, which Naruto suspected to be the case.

_Then_, he thought, _if they aren't trying to kill me…they must be trying to stall. For Madara?_

The last he'd seen of the Uchiha—either three, actually—had been a while after Sasuke had set off some screeching alarm. Then Naruto had simply become too engrossed in the task of destroying each Path methodically, before running into the woods after Konan. His acute hearing, still somewhat sharpened by too much use of the Kyuubi's chakra, could pick up explosions faintly nearby.

As well as the sudden rustling just ahead of where they were, putting him instantly on alert.

His heart pounded, and unconsciously, a shroud of chakra formed over him again, two tails crackling behind him. His eyes reddened, turning cold. Vaguely, in the depths of his mind, he heard the Kyuubi think, _**It's those Konoha brats again. **_

Pein and Konan, likewise, turned in unison to the noise. They leaped aside when a spray of weapons expertly shot out of the fray; distantly, Naruto recognized Tenten's handiwork. Twin blurs of gray shot out from the direction the two Akatsuki members had leaped, barreling into them simultaneously. Kiba yelled something along the lines of _'score!' _and reappeared, grinning, as Akamaru growled beside him. Quickly, Shikamaru, Sai, Sakura, and Neji also appeared among the trees, looking silent but determined.

"You again," Naruto murmured faintly. He had thought his words about destroying Konoha would have stopped them from continuing their ill-fated mission that would only end in disaster. He thought they would've learned by now, but it seemed even the smartest shinobi are blinded by what they call bonds.

"Konohagakure," Pein was saying loudly, still impassive despite his somewhat weak efforts at attacking Naruto. "I suppose if you're here to take care of the jinchuuriki… you can do the task for us." He looked the east then.

"Madara." Pein nodded in sync to Konan's words, and as suddenly as they had come after Naruto, they vanished again with no explanation, leaving Naruto with those he had once called friends. And now here they were, trying to kill him, and he them. Wasn't it ironic how things ended up these days?

"Naruto." Shikamaru's voice brought him staring straight down at the six shinobi assembled before him. Sakura's face was hard and resolute _(maybe she finally learned something after all—she learned to give up)_, Sai had a firm look in his eyes, Neji's face was impassive with something indefinable written on the pale features, Kiba looked the tiniest bit sad, and Tenten had an equally regretful expression on their face. They no longer had any doubt of what they had to do, even if they didn't want to do it. They were ninjas, and shinobi did what they were told to.

"Come to try and kill me again?" Naruto asked, a little amused about the whole situation. How many times had they tried so far? At least three, and every time they failed. He wouldn't fail this time though. He would kill them—because he had to, to prove to the fox that he was stronger than him; he had to destroy Konoha. Maybe when he was obliterating his former home, he'd finally summon more than seven tails.

The mere thought of going past seven tails made another one emerge, lengthening his canines and making him curl his lips in anticipation. Hatred, revenge, anger, all sorts of negative emotions boiled inside him. These people—deserved to die. Naruto didn't know the exact reason, but they just did.

_Or maybe it was because he had nothing, nobody, else to blame._

"We aren't killing you," Sakura said softly, eyes gentle. There was something infinitely different about her this time. Something was different with all of them. They didn't have the same hesitation they'd had before, Naruto realized, and this time it very well could be the end.

"Then tell me, what pathetic excuse do you have?" he hissed mockingly, not knowing why he was dragging out this battle. It was inevitable anyway.

"Naruto…" His name fell from her lips as softly as all the other words had. "I'm sorry everything turned out this way."

The next thing he knew, the whole tree was shaking as Sakura punched it. The wood splintered and broke apart, forcing Naruto to land on the ground. The grass withered even further as his chakra covered body touched it.

Shikamaru formed a circle around him, far away enough so that Naruto couldn't easily reach out with a chakra claw and take them out. Fine, if they wanted a long battle, they could have their long battle. _It was the end anyway, what did it matter? He wouldn't ever have to see them again. Never._

And for some unexplainable reason, it made something in him hurt just a little. Perhaps it was the 'good' side of Naruto, having been buried for far too long to ever completely recall back, since the dark side had taken over more and more.

Battles among shinobi usually contained words, even if they were derogatory or jutsu names. Sometimes, the more empathetic ones—like Naruto had been—would try to save the enemy or at least make them understand there were others out there like them. Sometimes they were words of apology, like the Konoha 10 found them repeating only too often as they continuously attempted to kill Naruto. Sometimes they were curses, smug, or just plain old insults, meant to weaken the opponent.

This battle was strange, Sakura had to admit. No words were exchanged, for nobody needed to hear them anymore. No jutsus called out, because they already knew them all. No regrets, no pleads, nothing that they already hadn't come to terms with. Only the exchange of weapons, fists, and chakra were required—the only thing a shinobi should ever really need.

It was easier said than done, however.

Naruto clearly came at them with the intent to kill, chakra more malevolent and hair-raising than ever. Tenten's weapons had little effect, though some of her longer chains could contain Naruto long enough for Sakura to land a punch. Naruto dealt out searing blows with one strike of his hand, four tails waving behind him. Neji ended up with a blazing red burn across his torso. In some places, the skin had completely peeled away; Sakura couldn't stop fighting to heal him, because if she turned her back, she would die. He continued darting in a distracting Naruto anyway, blocking one of his chakra points whenever he had the chance to sneak past the chakra that had a mind of its own.

It was clear more harm was being done to the Konoha 10 than Naruto, they realized soon on. If they had all of their numbers, it might have been easier and the teamwork smoother than a mix-and-match of four separate teams. But there was no musing over past mistakes now.

Naruto felt the sweltering influence of the Kyuubi threatening to take over, constantly looming over him. No matter what the fox said, mockingly or not, he couldn't resist a single taste of freedom, and that was what Naruto was looking for. He was curious—too curious for his own good—to see what went past his limit, or maybe in some part of him…

Maybe he just wanted release from this endless life. Hadn't someone said so before? That endless cycle of hatred. Yes, maybe he wanted release from that, but only death could grant it.

However, Naruto was never one to go down without a fight, so this time was no different. To commit suicide was truly something ostracized by the shinobi community, because that was the easy way out, instead of dying protecting or fighting for something you loved. Too bad there was nothing Naruto particularly cared about anymore; nothing like he used to.

Sakura could only try and hurt him again and again, watching as all their attempts failed. It wasn't like they didn't have the resolve to! No, it was only that they weren't strong enough. Sometime along the way, Naruto had grown stronger than all of them; he had left them behind, and that made a small part of Sakura want to hang her head, pound the ground, and cry. He had accepted the monster's help, he had become the monster—just like Kabuto had said before.

It was pathetic, pitiful, weak…and yet, it was the same for all of them. Somewhere deep inside them, shinobi all had the same weakness—the notion that they were the strongest of them all. And when they found out they weren't…

Most died. Some chose to grow stronger.

Sakura bit her lip harshly, hoping that she would grow stronger from this, when it was all over for good.

"Gaara!" Neji's harsh whisper made them turn toward him in unison. He was looking, focused, off in the distance. "He's coming."

"How?" Tenten started. A second later, a flood of sand entered the area and clouded their vision, swelling around Naruto and holding him tight. Gaara walked calmly—too calmly, as if this was some midday stroll around his village and not a life-or-death battle—out, flanked by (as usual) his sister and brother. Both looked cold and stern, like angels dealing out death to those unable to repent.

"We were in the area," Gaara said smoothly, not needing any prompt to explain why. "Or rather, we've been watching Konoha for a while now, waiting for Naruto to make his move. We will not be left out on this simultaneous alliance we've formed…_together._"

Shikamaru assessed his new forces with a lazy eye. He would've looked fit to be watching clouds under a languid blue sky if not for the sweat and fatigue etched on his face. "It's okay, we can work our strategy around this. It doesn't matter—I have to send up the flares."

"How many—?" Sakura started to ask before the sand imploded, sending out glass-sharp slices—so painful because of the speed in which they blew by, ripping flesh and clothing—as Naruto lowered himself onto a crouch in the ground, a wild, tumultuous energy flooding from him. Gaara had thrown up a sand shield in front of the three Suna siblings, and lowered it with a somewhat shocked expression. He had experienced his own bijuu trying to take over many times (and when Shukaku had succeeded) but never to this extent, with so much chakra simply flooding out, like it was unable to be contained in a human body. Any second now, Sakura shuddered with a sudden fear, Naruto's skin would begin peeling off. He was already at five tails, and his eyes looked feral and wild, almost on the verge of becoming completely red. Even when they'd fought at Suna he hadn't been this riled up—so that meant it was all Naruto this time. He was doing it all on his own, without outside influence of the Kyuubi.

It was a terrifying thought.

All this went by in seconds, and when the sand had settled down again, Shikamaru was gone. Naruto flung himself at Sai, leaving the rest of them on defense and offense at the same time. It was a crazed blur after that; Sakura heard two pops and then Shikamaru was back in the fight, subduing Naruto and trying to tie him down.

It only made him angrier, resulting in another tail. Strangely enough, there was a sadistic sort of pleasure in him, though the chakra seemed more sluggish now, as if unwilling to emerge. Sakura staggered back after a while, leg torn badly and her pinky finger probably broken judging by the harsh pain in it. She didn't want to look at the rest of them.

Naruto's head whipped toward Konoha's direction then, stopping. It made the rest of them stand on alert, wondering what was happening—no, they could hear it anyway. It was Konoha's forces coming to them, and Sakura felt an intense pain tug at her heart. They were going to fail in all aspects of their mission…all personal aspects, anyway.

At least, that's what she thought. It was then things began to happen very differently.

An explosion rocked the ground nearby, and all of a sudden half a tail, orange-red in color, was emerging slowly. Too slowly, or maybe it was just because things had slowed down in Sakura's eyes. Something bad was about to happen, her shinobi instincts screamed. Don't let him go past seven tails—!

The good news for her was that he never did. The bad news was that, without warning of where she'd even come from, a stranger was standing in front of Naruto, hands on his shoulders. Her own hair settled gently around her pale, almost translucent face, and she had a serene expression on her face as she closed her onyx-black eyes. Naruto slowly closed his eyes too, and the rest of them could only stand and stare, confused, at the new scene.

The stranger whispered something. Sakura stepped forward, hand outstretched, the first to move. A thousand twigs snapped in the forest as Konoha bounded nearer, other fights occurring in other places. All those things happened at once.

And then, the world erupted in a flash of white.

* * *

><p><strong>Hahaha! Transformation :D of what? Evil or good? Lol, you probably know the answer. I love cliffies…but I promise to update soon, next Thursday at the latest (not this one, probably. Well duh it's tomorrow.) After that my schedule should stabilize back to normalcy. <strong>

**So again, if you would like a reply, it would be awesometastical if you could leave a way to contact you, sweet. Other than that, there's a reason it's an anonymous review, so I'm glad all of you have taken the time to read or alert or fave or review my story, even if I didn't update for a super long time…**

**Speaking of that, it's mostly because of my computer having to be wiped, yada, no writing source, a mild case of writer's block (so annoying), and simply being too *sheepish laugh* involved in playing Sims 3.**

**Also, ever since my computer got wiped, the internet looks all strange. It's like, compressed, especially on this site, and it makes my chapters look all short :( makes me feel bad. And now everything is being all slow, _despite _the whole 'wiped-is-better' sort of thing. As in, tortoise slow. Like it takes ten minutes for the freakin' Internet to even _pop up. _Gahhh I'm so angry! Though…it's getting faster. Sorta.**

…**Reviews are welcomed :) I don't bite, despite my words above. Happy 2012!**

**TBC! (but for how long?)**


	36. Chapter Thirty Four

**A/N: So hey, think I'm back for good? Lol. Sorry it's a day late anyway :(**

**Recently, apparently I've been pronounced 'deaf' (multiple times TT_TT) naïve, silly, childish, and innocent, usually all in the same sentence. Hmm, guess they don't know much about my ff exploits, eh? Jk. I'm also under the impression that half the people I know seem to think I don't try very hard but still get excellent grades (or excel at anything, actually) while the other half think I'm, well, naïve and stupid. Hehe, looks like I'm good at fooling people.**

**But, erhm, anyway, about Dark Angel… so, how many more chapters do I predict? TWO! yes, you heard me right. And thanks everyone for faving/alerting/reviewing! Appreciate everybody's efforts—don't worry, I'm only gonna repeat this again at the very end of the last chapter, so eh, bear with me.**

**(Oh yeah, something random that pisses me off: bear is used as in 'bear with me'. Bare? Bare skin. Not bare with me. GRR. And wearily is not warily, okay? Lol.) :3 For the sake of more random talk that's related to this story, I made it sound like Twilight during one part of this T_T pitiful. But whatever. Can you guess which part? **

**Disclaimer: Actually a disclaimer related to not owning Naruto! Le gasp! (Though I don't know what that means) **私はナルトを所有していない。 **Now those foreign looking Japanese characters, on the other hand, mean…well, why don't you translate them in Google translator like I did XD –mutters about not knowing if they even translated his name right-**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Thirty-Four<strong>

_No my friend, darkness is not everywhere, for here and there I find faces illuminated from within; paper lanterns hanging among the dark trees. _–Carole Borges

_I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers. _–Helen Keller

Birds chirped softly in the light, fluttering by in strange iridescent colors, calling out to each other in high trilling tones. The sky was an endless, boundless blue, stretching on like a canvas overhead, splashed with white. The grass was green and young, the trees tall and ancient, forever protecting this splendiferous paradise.

Yet, with all those seemingly happy decorations—for that was all they were, ornaments—the paradise had an oddly melancholy tone. Like it was deserted, unloved, lonely.

And for all its own rights, it was.

"Ne, where'd you go?" called a small voice from behind a tree. Another girl, older with a serene expression on her face, ran by into the meadow clearing, dotted with fresh wildflowers. The owner of the first voice darted out too, a young boy. They laughed together before vanishing into the trees again, shimmering away to appear somewhere else that mattered to the pair.

Soon, another boy appeared. He had a wide grin on his face; but if you looked closely into his eyes, you could see the sadness that seemed permanent in those blue, blue orbs—the exact color of the sky. The boy ran to a large tree that suddenly appeared in the middle of the meadow, one swing hanging from a long branch. He perched on it, smiling all the while. Two other figures ran by in the shadows of the forest, leaving twin smears of black and pink in the air before fading away.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" called an annoyed voice. Tsunade stepped out from the trees, looking younger than recent times. She looked right past the blonde boy sitting on the swing and instead focused on another shadow stepping into the meadow's light, older than the boy on the swing but younger than what he had become now. "Come on, we've got that checkup to do."

"Whatever, Tsunade-baa-chan," said the older boy in the orange and blue jumpsuit. He had hands clasped behind his head, sighing impatiently. They vanished together when they reached the trees.

And so the morning went—not that the morning ever stopped. It was always perpetually light here, because the shadows were found in the 'people' and not the scenery. The scenery were merely formed by the people, disappearing at their own whim.

People flickered by. Sometimes it was an arguing trio with heads of blonde, brown, and black hair. Other times, a sweet voice could be heard ringing out softly next to the louder, gruffer one of her teammate's and the quiet stolid one of her other comrade. Once a flash of green passed by, following a darting pale shape and a girl with brown hair pulled up tight in twin buns. All the while, the small blonde boy sat on the swing, watching his surroundings with a sorrowful expression.

Finally, one of the shadow people noticed the boy sitting on the swing.

"Naruto." An older version of the blonde boy walked toward him, turning to lean against the rough bark of the tree. The first boy looked up at him with a somewhat idolized expression. "How are you?"

"Same as always. Watching." Both of them turned to look at the trees, dark with flitting shadows but never once giving off a menacing feeling.

"Something's different today," the second boy said quietly. He crossed his arms, the fabric of his black-and-orange jumpsuit wrinkling slightly. "It's been different recently, actually. Haven't you felt it? Something is happening down below."

"If only we could see it," answered Naruto softly. "But we're trapped here, bound by the very thing that we thought was important. It's a lonely place, you've felt it too."

"And we're stuck forever unless we are called back."

Both sighed. "Maybe we will get called back soon," said the younger boy hopefully. "Maybe he's finally learning to remember again."

"Perhaps. Maybe our successor will be smarter, and learn that memories are meant to be kept, not thrown away." The older boy laughed, "Well, we can hope, can't we? We can wait, because that's all we can do. Unfortunately, this isn't heaven. It's just the lost place nobody ever bothers to remember."

"But we do!" Young Naruto leaped off his swing, shaking his hair wildly. "Heh, anyway, thanks for talking to me, Naruto!" He grinned before flitting away, the tree disappearing in his wake. Naruto was left staring at the empty space as the memory fled, leaving the site quickly. It was always like this—running and coming back, an endless cycle of nothingness.

Naruto turned to stare down at the floor, as if that alone would make the ground transparent and so they could see the mortal world again. What was going on down there? Would they ever be recalled back from this emptiness—the place where lost memories called home?

"Take us back soon. Please."

* * *

><p>The only thing Naruto had felt before was rage.<p>

It had started to take over his mind, as well as the Kyuubi's influence leaching out to taint his thinking. It had been as Naruto had suspected—the fox was just a greedy, conniving monster. Unfortunately, the whole task of getting past seven tails was still not easy, because the Kyuubi seemed to be _trying _to reign his own chakra in, not letting it escape. Still, it was difficult to fight against one's own nature.

But then, when he had been so close _(who cared if it was his own former teammates he was hurting, who cared about the expressions on their faces or more of those he had once thought to protect coming to destroy him—who cared about any of them)_ to achieving what he had desired, something happened.

Hands.

Light as a feather's touch, but weighing down on his shoulders and eyes, causing them to close and him to relax. Before he saw blackness, he'd seen pale features and a soft smile. _Nakami? _he had thought, confused. Nakami wasn't supposed to be out of her cave. It was impossible.

Then again, was anything really impossible? It was only what he thought was impossible that seemed impossible… And then his mind went rambling again, lost in the darkness with nothing to grasp him. Perhaps this was what really happened after seven tails. Maybe he was lost now. Dead. Could that be possible? The notion that he was no longer living scared him a little, because to think he had died just like that was difficult to believe.

It was then he felt something soft envelop him, or perhaps his consciousness. Tender and loving, a sister's care or a mother's concern; something akin to what might have been family, if only he had ever experience what a family was like.

The feeling guided him carefully along, still in the dark. Maybe Naruto's eyes were shut tightly or it was just too dark _(in his own soul) _to see, but he didn't know where this feeling was taking him. It was nice to just relax though, and let someone else take over for a while. Yes, that was it. He was just tired. He was just experiencing a brief lapse of judgment, of control.

_Oh, then tell me, _whispered the sniveling voice that had haunted him for so long, taunting him, teasing him, making his life a living hell when he was younger. He remembered this voice, his _own _voice. Now, the whispers seemed louder than ever, ringing around him like a snake's hiss, slithering and staining his mind. _Tell me, what have these last two years been to you? One giant mistake, or something that has brought you on your true path?_

Naruto felt himself stop. He tried to open his eyes—perhaps they were already wide open, he just couldn't see—but nothing except blackness pierced his vision. The hissing voice and a dark, deep howl joined in simultaneous laughter as his consciousnesses continued to play tricks on him.

A second later, he was moving again, pulled along by firm tugs. The laughter grew fainter before disappearing in the depths of his mind once more, and finally Naruto could see again.

It was nothing he had not seen before…and yet, something was different. Strangely so.

The golden walls were awash with a bloody light, dark and terrifying. It was like someone had taken a bucket of red and thrown it, smashed it, against the wall, leaving stains everywhere—but it wasn't blood. The normally dark floor covered in a murky, ankle-deep water was smoking with a light steam, creating an impenetrable fog which was just as bad as the darkness he'd left. What was this place? How had his mind changed?

Something pulled his hand, and Naruto looked down to see pale fingers gripping his own. The hand was attached to an arm that reached a pointy elbow, but then the rest of the body was gone in the mist. He didn't have to see the entire person to know who it was.

Why she cared for him was another question completely.

A roar shook his vision suddenly, and the whole room quaked like they were on some giant monster's back and it was bucking them off. Once, when Naruto had been very young, he had vague recollections of an earthquake hitting Konoha. His small apartment had almost toppled onto the street; as it was, the room under him had caved. Luckily, nobody had been in the apartment at the time, seeing how it was October 10. The tremors that slid through the room with golden bars shivered to a stop, reminding Naruto of that earthquake so long ago. It seemed he had kept some memories after all, strange as they were.

The bloody light wavered before slinking down the walls slightly, like Shikamaru's shadow jutsu when left on his opponent too long. Water pooled around Naruto's ankles as he was pushed forward, Nakami disappearing behind him. He thought he heard some soft words coming from her, but he couldn't tell what it was as, for the first time in years, he felt curiosity. An undeniable, surge of curiosity which forced his mouth open, words falling unbidden from his lips.

"Why are you here?" he asked loudly, as if the room wasn't already dead silent despite the ripples forming from up ahead suggesting otherwise. There should have been some sort of noise, breathing, words, waves lapping against an object, but nothing. Strange.

Nakami didn't answer. For a brief second, Naruto wondered if she had disappeared, until suddenly a soft hand gripped his arm in an iron-hard hold, and a smooth voice murmured, "I'm sorry, Naruto. We will get through this together, but to get to the ending we must always go through pain first. It is in that way we will grow."

Before he had a chance to ponder her strange words, the hand was gone, the thick fog stirring in her wake as she dashed ahead. Finally some noise permeated the too-silent, heavy atmosphere, as her footsteps made splashes in the liquid on the floor.

And then, the most excruciating pain Naruto had experienced in a long time gripped his heart, and he was bending over, falling onto the floor. Water pooled around him (or whatever the mysterious liquid was) but didn't seep into his clothes, weirdly enough. That anomaly didn't hold a candle to the fire spreading from Naruto's insides, his heart. It was like one of those giant forest fires that sometimes happened when the weather got too dry, resulting in blackened stumps and a charred wasteland.

Naruto knew this pain.

It was familiar, sadly so. The Kyuubi's chakra wasn't something that could be mistaken, so… He gasped and felt himself being pushed onto his back, as the sear of the chakra traveled toward his head. The aftereffects were a dull numbing throb, making him sigh and catch his breath all at once. If it was like this in his own mind, within himself, he didn't want to know what his actual body would be experiencing.

The chakra covered him, coated him thoroughly. He half expected there to be orange chakra covering him, literally, but when he hazily opened his eyes, all he saw was a dim black.

Something touched him on his forehead lightly, whispering words that reminded him of family and love. Foreign feelings _(which, sadly, had once-upon-a-time not been so alien)_ rushed through him like a bittersweet wave, forcing the numbness to recede a bit in favor of the cooling care being transmitted to him from the touch on his forehead.

"It's okay, Naruto. We're almost done, so wake up now," said Nakami from somewhere close to him, sounding tired but happy. "We're almost complete. You're almost free."

A small part of Naruto—which made him wonder, how could he still think even within his own mindscape?—hissed at the intrusion, crying, _We don't need your help! We were fine. We wanted to die in this oblivion._

A larger part, which he didn't even know existed, pushed back. _You're wrong._

_I'm wrong._

The touch on his forehead seemed to push back the numbness for brief, tantalizingly clear seconds, finally erasing what the Kyuubi had implanted in his mind two years ago, an eternity ago. He began to _remember_, from the tiniest things like a hand holding his or a smile directed toward his younger self to larger events—even to the point where he met Team 7. Naruto cried out, eyes struggling to open; they felt so heavy, though, like weights had been placed on them. He heard a sharp intake of breath somewhere near him before the cool touch was taken away, and then the numbness returned, fogging up his mind with the Kyuubi's hateful words once more.

A pain began throbbing in his head as he slowly reminded himself to breathe. Just breathe. He had experienced worse than this, after all, hadn't he? When he left Konoha—the pain had been unbearable. When he fought Pein. When Hinata had been 'killed', when he had hurt Sakura so many times, when Sasuke had shoved a fist through his chest, when Jiraiya and the Sandaime and so many countless others had hurt and suffered and died for him.

It wasn't the villagers' fault for forgetting him—after what he'd done, he deserved to be betrayed. Because he had let his mind be clouded by tempts of promises, protections, and then he had left, even knowing everything that everyone he cared about had sacrificed for him so that he would _stay _and be loved in Konoha. He had done the exact same thing the villagers had done to him, except he had committed the act to all those he had cared about; betrayed them terribly.

It was only right that they should kill him. Naruto clenched his eyes. He didn't need to open them anymore, because what he had been searching for all along had finally returned since that dark night long ago when he'd let them go. Memories, the pieces of his soul, of him.

And while Naruto could feel regret again, he still couldn't bring himself to say it or even think it. He couldn't go back to Konoha.

Not only was he no longer welcomed…some part of him had seen the full truth behind their actions anyway. There would always be those who cared for him, for nobody was alone in their world, no matter what they chose to personally believe. But to stay for a village made of fools was no better. To fight for people who would turn a blind eye when you were labeled a traitor, to those who would change their evaluations in a heartbeat, anything as long as they themselves survived was not something Naruto wanted.

He wanted freedom. That was all.

A rumbling roar shook his body again, and this time Naruto knew it was from outside as the Kyuubi vented his anger.

_**What are you doing? **_His voice was harsh and terrible, grating on the ears. Naruto could imagine the tails whipping around in anger. The words seemed to reverberate not only in Naruto's head but also in the room itself, no longer a manifestation of the demon's will but a real, solid thing. What had Nakami done?

_I am merely setting things back to what they should be, _some part of Naruto answered calmly. _You should never have tried to influence me._

_**At least I tried! At least I saw what was best for you—for **_**us**_**, **_the fox seethed, and finally Naruto wished he could open his eyes if only to see the Kyuubi's anger. _**Didn't I tell you those villagers were worthless idiots? They never cared about you and they never will! I was the only one who ever knew what was best for you—**_

_Stop it. I know who I am now, and you can't change that! _Naruto ignored the fact that he had thought so once before too, when his ideals were more firmly set than they were now. And back then, the Kyuubi had still managed to change him.

The Kyuubi snorted, laughing. There was something strangely pitiful in the sound, like a beast who realizes he has nowhere left to run except into the trap. _**So all that hard work was for nothing? All that brainwashing, carefully whispered plans and hatred and killing? Oh well, what I've stained on your soul is irreversible anyway. You won't be accepted into Heaven if there ever was one—I only knew Hell anyway. To think that you would be the one…to bring it all down. Isn't that ironic? **_The very last words were not spoken to Naruto. More rather, someone who seemed to be standing directly between Naruto and the cage. Then the fox quickly refocused his words toward Naruto, the usually lazy tone becoming quicker in anger. _**I knew you were up to something when I felt you pulling my chakra. Of course I didn't think anything of it because you were too weak, and you still are, you know. Too weak to do anything that actually matters! So I slept. And when I wake, this is what I find, total chaos and your body reaching past seven tails…and then this Uchiha-wannabe comes in and forces you past eight tails altogether! **_

"I'm sure you're wondering something, though," said a quiet, labored voice. Nakami. The fox let out a snort of displeasure when he was interrupted from his long rant. "Why aren't you in your true, mountainous form? Why aren't you towering over the world? Why aren't you ruling all? I'm sure you know why though, and that was why you didn't want Naruto going past seven tails. There was a chance somebody would stop you…but it isn't me."

Then who? Naruto wanted to ask. Who cared enough about him to stop the demon, if not Nakami?

_**It's those eyes again, **_the Kyuubi suddenly hissed in displeasure. His voice quieted for a brief moment, granting a beat of silence for Naruto's abused ears. And then something akin to alarm entered his voice—but why would the Kyuubi feel alarm of all things? _**What are you doing? No. You can't come out—not you too! What are you doing?**_

"You must be gone. For that I am sorry."

_**Put those cursed eyes back! I knew this would happen! **_

"Only I have this power to seal you utterly and completely, but I cannot do it without help. My eyes can control you for a small amount of time…however, to save Naruto, I need another person's help. I need someone who loves Naruto unconditionally, no matter what, and that person is standing right here next to me."

_Who? _Naruto wondered, _who could Nakami be talking about? Who loves me…that much? _What was going on? He wished he could open his eyes now, but it was like someone had placed a binding ninjutsu on him. No matter how hard he struggled, his eyes refused to open, yielding nothing but frustration as he could only listen to the words flying around him, signaling that his fate was being decided without him.

He heard splashes to his right, and instinctively his head turned to face them. Something touched his face and Naruto flinched back briefly, not expecting the light touch. The hand—assuming that's what had touched him—quickly retracted again. Someone made a small, low _hmph_ing noise and then the steps circled around again.

"You see, the Uzumaki clan was renowned for their fuuinjutsu. (1) They developed the very seals that imprisoned you, in fact. I'm sure you remember your previous jinchuuriki host quite well, don't you?" There was an answering growling laugh, half annoyed and half resigned.

_**Who could forget her? **_

Who—was she?

Nakami continued softly. "And you know she taught her husband the seal that allowed your chakra to gradually leak out into your host's body, eventually contaminating both of you until the host grew strong and you were weakened. However, she also taught him one last thing before she died… and that is what will bring you down today. Do you know what it is?"

The fox didn't answer, but Naruto could practically feel his impatience. On the other hand, his own brain was whirring frantically. Something about what Nakami had said stuck with him—_'she taught her husband the seal'. _Who was the previous jinchuuriki? A woman? A flood of remembrance, like déjà vu, fluttered through him, along with the strangest flashes of brilliant red hair and long fingers stroking his face. The only person who had ever sealed Naruto was the Fourth Hokage—his father. And if she was Minato's husband, who was his father, then that meant one thing and one thing only…

Naruto had never been the smartest kid in the class and he knew it. Still, without a doubt, he knew who the previous jinchuuriki had been—

His mother.

A foreign feeling crashed through him. Mother? What was he talking about? How could he have a mother? It wasn't so much the _idea _that scared him, it was the fact that he had never had one and now, all of a sudden, he did. A real, l—well, not living. But someone who had once been real and breathing and had loved him with all her heart. He had had a mom, just like he had had a dad. Unfortunately, it was the demon who had ripped both away from him.

It was the demon who he had followed. It was the demon who he had thought would right all the wrongs in Naruto's twisted world, but in the end, only he had corrupted himself and his friends for listening to the demon.

What truthful words would a demon have to say, after all?

Lying on the ground like this, completely vulnerable to attack yet feeling utterly safe, Naruto felt at peace. Sure, there was a lingering sensation of having all his deeds spread out before him—all the blood staining his hands—and judgment, but that could be done later. Right now, he knew what he wanted for the future… something so unattainable, something that multiple shinobi had pursued in a useless attempt to fulfill. Something everyone sought to capture, something everyone wanted to prevent violence.

_Peace._

However, the difference with Naruto was that he only wanted it for himself. Wishing it upon the whole world would be an impossible task, because there was no such thing as worldwide peace. There would forever be the small conflicts happening everywhere, and one person's definition of peace would only lead to another's death in their vain attempt to fulfill that wish for 'peace'.

Peace was truly something ironic and cruel.

He breathed deeply then, feeling thoughts clear from his mind smoothly. The sense of calmness overtook him again and Naruto twitched his finger. Nakami's sensible words were still flying around him while the Kyuubi's dark and low growl shook the room. They were still fighting, or perhaps Nakami was explaining.

Wait no. She was saying something different now. She was talking to him.

"…I don't know what to tell you, Naruto. I don't know if it will hurt. I'm so sorry. But… it will help you. So believe in me, believe in us, and we will get through this. You'll be able to fly again! You'll be free." Her breathing was labored, her words coming sluggishly at times.

_Why are you so tired? _Naruto asked, wondering if she could even hear him. A soft, wheezing laugh answered his unsaid question.

"Some things must be sacrificed to keep others alive. That is the way life comes around." And those were the only words she on that topic before issuing a series of commands, voice suddenly growing harder. "Listen! When I tell you, stand, okay? Fight against anything that tries to push or pull you down. You must stand, then walk three paces forward. After that, focus on my voice. Stay with us."

_Okay…_Naruto thought, seemingly unable to speak aloud. If anyone were watching him, they probably thought he was just a dead corpse and nothing more. That thought prompted him to wonder about the people he'd left outside—those he had sworn to protect but had ended up failing anyway because of his own promises—and how they were coping. Did they think he had died too? As far as he could tell, it would make their mission a hell lot easier if he was lying there like a dead corpse, which was what he was suspecting.

Nakami's voice crying out loud snapped him out of his reverie. He couldn't understand a word she was chanting, but he understood enough to feel the tingles of chakra and something more scatter over his skin. He could distinguish his chakra and the scalding of the Kyuubi's and cooler velvety night ones of Nakami's and then… a stranger's. Like fresh water and a stream but with an inexorable sense of power. A waterfall.

Once again, he wondered, _Who is that? _But there was no one to answer him, as usual.

"Naruto." Nakami's voice came all too soon, breaking into his brief daydream of something with feathers and hope. "Please come forward."

He remembered her instructions and stood. The instant his limbs moved, it was clear that not only had his eyes been bound by some invisible sort of ninjutsu, his body had been confined as well. It was like moving underwater—something unpleasant for most shinobi since water was harder to move freely in than air, understandably—with stones weighted onto one's foot. Except in his case, the stones were all over him, dragging him down and down and down until he felt he would suffocate.

"Try! Naruto, please. Stand for me. For us." And then Nakami was bringing him back to the surface again, and somehow, he found the strength to stand. His limbs quivered and his chest heaved like he had just ran the trip from Suna to Konoha nonstop in one day. Something seemed to slide smoothly off him then, and his limbs were free.

_Step forward… _he remembered, taking one, two, three steps up. He wondered what was going to happen, and it occurred to Naruto that if he could now move—perhaps he could see again? He tried.

They opened.

It was one of the strangest scenes, no doubt, that he had seen in a while. The cage was about a foot away from him. The fox was not half as far; in fact, the first thing Naruto had seen when he'd opened his eyes was a dark nose. Then Naruto realized something was wrong.

The cage was open. The Kyuubi's gates, the one that kept him sealed safely away, _were open. _Naruto gasped, and almost took a step back, until firm arms pushed against him. "Don't move, Naruto." He obeyed but continued to stare warily at the fox, wondering why he wasn't attacking…wondering why he himself wasn't dead yet. His gaze traveled upward along the long orange snout until it reached his eyes, and then he had gotten his answer.

In those normally fierce, hatred-filled orbs was something docile. Calmer. Transfixed, with three faint dots around the pupil like someone's Sharingan gone wrong. His mouth was crinkled in a terrible roar, frozen but breathing; the Kyuubi was still conscious, as Naruto could easily tell by the small miniscule movements the fox gave off through his eyes. He didn't need them to be clear to read their murderous, bloodthirsty intent.

"What have you done, Nakami?" he whispered. Only after the words emerged from his still-open mouth did the fact hit him—he had spoken. He was no longer confined to his own mind, slowly going insane by waiting. Naruto took the chance to ask more questions, bumbling over himself in his hurry to shove them out. It was like the small eternity of being under the Kyuubi's indirect control had caused him to slowly store up his curiosity till it burst, overfilling him. "Who were you talking about that loved me so much? What are you doing now? What am I supposed to do? Why did you tell me to stay with you? What's going to happen? Will I die?"

"You will not die, Naruto. I will never allow that. More questions can be answered after this, though. We must hurry—my Sharingan will not hold the fox forever. Stay where you are. Don't move. Listen to me." Her voice had grown sweeter, lulling, causing Naruto's head to droop forward in exhaustion. The strains of breaking free of whatever bond that had kept him on the floor caught up to him again like a freight train, and he wanted nothing more than to sleep. Why was he denied of death too? Was there no decision he could make willingly by his own freedom? His eyes focused half-drearily on the ground, tracing strange intricate patterns laid out beneath his feet.

Suddenly realizing what exactly he was staring at, he jerked his head to the right and left. There was the same pattern swirling around him, filled with intricate symbols and lines incorporated by the same streak of dark inky black. The seal—for what else could it be but that?—stretched about a foot to either side of him, and he stood in the center. A kanji for the word '_live_' was placed under his feet and nothing else.

Naruto was allowed no more thinking time as a strange sucking sound blew through the air. The water in his cage whipped into frenzies, swirling up in watery tornadoes before slamming back into the ground, creating ripples. Two separate forces, Nakami's chakra and the stranger's, mixed behind him to create something undefeatable and powerful, sending goose bumps down Naruto's spine. At the same moment, the Kyuubi's eyes abruptly cleared and he growled, clearly about to spring.

_**You have made a dreadful mistake, brat! Don't think that just because you've sealed me once you can do it again! I won't allow it!**_

"We will stop you. We must." Nakami said like a chant, over and over. "Stay with us. Stay with us, Naruto." He wondered why she was saying that as fatigue threatened to overtake him, hindering his sense of strategy and clever thinking. He found out a moment later.

The Kyuubi sprung, slamming himself forward. Wild springs of chakra flamed into existence, a brilliant orange, before suddenly being sucked forward into the seal around Naruto's feet. The fox let out a scream _(it could hardly be called anything but that) _and leaped forward again, meeting the same barrier Naruto hadn't noticed before. More small slips of chakra flowed into the seals decorating the floor, and the seal began to glow a bright gold, pulsing in time to the chakra that flowed quicker and quicker into it. Naruto's fatigue reached a new level about five minutes—or what he measured as minutes, seeing there was no real time in this place inside him—into the strange ceremony, and his head spun dizzily. His breath came shorter and quicker; it only influenced the dizziness. The only conclusion he could reach was that his own energy was being sapped along with the Kyuubi's, but unlike the demon's, he showed it. The Nine-tails just continued its relentless, stubborn, snarling, _stupid _attack at the thing in front of Naruto. Couldn't the beast see it was no use fighting anymore? Surely it didn't want its freedom that much? Even as Naruto thought it, he knew how stupid a question it was. The seal was now spinning and glowing faster and faster, creating a light bulb effect that sent black images dancing across Naruto's retinas. He barely felt himself swaying.

"Naruto! Stay with us!" yelled a voice, feminine and piercing through the nearly drunk haze he'd been enveloped in. That voice. Nakami? Vaguely, he remembered her, and slowly the fog cleared. His breathing steadied. "Please. Only a little longer." Her own breathing wasn't half as stable, fluctuating between short punctuated gasps and long dragging releases. Naruto could now hear a similar breathing from his right, whereas Nakami was on his left. An itching sensation to just turn and see who this mystery person was burned at him, and he moved his left foot slightly.

"Don't move. It's almost over. Survive, Naruto." A new voice spoke, jarring Naruto as he froze in place. It was male, deep, and utterly familiar even though Naruto was sure he had never heard that voice before in his life. A sense of security rose in him, and he unconsciously found himself relaxing.

_This man will save me. He will protect me... from everything. _

He breathed.

Naruto would never realize just how close he had been to death at that moment, when the Kyuubi had sapped his energy in exchange for the seemingly endless chakra flooding into the seal. It was probably a good thing in the end, though.

"Almost done," Nakami was saying now, over and over. The world continued to spin around Naruto, but it was no longer his own doing. The room was indeed whirling, and the walls were beginning to dissolve into a starkly black place littered with dark red gates. A stray wind blew past a sheet of paper, one that Naruto knew was the seal to the Kyuubi's old cage. The seal beneath his feet had slowed down its pulsing; it glowed orange and red, intermediately changing every now and then. Chakra still flowed in, even though the demon was no longer struggling. Instead, the once proud Kyuubi lay on his stomach, ears flattened but eyes no lacking its original venom.

_**This is why I hate you all. Humans, nasty, every one of you, **_he bit, lashing out in his anger. _**Trying to control what you shouldn't be able to, just because it scares you! I tried to help you, Naruto, and this is what I get? **_

"You have helped me," Naruto tried to answer, but he couldn't speak. But I just don't need you anymore.

At last, somewhat anticlimactically, the end came. The demon's chakra stopped flowing, coming in spurts or so. The fox looked rather diminished, and Naruto felt a pang of pity inside him against his own will. The seal glowed so intensely it was hard to look at directly, and heavy breathing coming from behind him signaled there had been more going on to this sealing than he had thought. After all, the only thing Naruto had bothered doing was stand there and wait patiently for this torture to end, when he would finally get his answers.

"Naruto…" came Nakami's breathy whisper. "Can you do one last thing for me? Concentrate all the energy you have left, and close the seal beneath you. Only you can do that, if you accept your destiny. Do you accept your fate?"

_Do you accept that you won't have this power anymore? You will finally have control of your own life, which might be terrifying but it is necessary for survival? Do you understand you will be part of who you were before once more?_

"I do."

The words spilled from Naruto's lips without his complete consent, but he accepted them anyway. Closing his eyes and drawing a shuddering breath, he thought about all the things he had ever left behind—but he couldn't regret it, because he had already embraced this plummeting insanity. He would have to suffer to make up for it, but he would willingly die now to protect those he had once sworn to. He would accept his punishments, accept his fate, accept his destiny and lifestyle. He was Uzumaki Naruto, after all.

The seal sent up a blinding woosh of wind around Naruto's face, riffling his hair and blasting warmth around his face before the seal disappeared from beneath his feet. Any sense of lingering warmth vanished just as quickly, leaching away into nothingness as Naruto opened his eyes again. The Kyuubi still lay before him, less than half his size. Orange eyes roiled.

"What did I do?"

"You did the right thing," said that oh-so-familiar male voice again, and finally he came into Naruto's vision.

The first thing his stunned brain registered was the shocking fairness. Blonde skin, smooth pale skin, a long white coat embroidered with four red characters… blue, blue eyes. The second thought was, _he looks an awful lot like me. _The third terrifying realization hit him directly after the second, because holy hell this could not be his father.

"You're not—"

"I'm proud of you, Naruto," was all the man said before hugging him. Naruto stared over his white-clad shoulder in disbelief, watching the nothingness stretch on forever and forever, so much like the darkness inside him. His instinct gnawed at him and he pushed the man roughly away.

"Who are you? What do you think you're doing, saying you're _proud _of me? There's nothing in me to be—proud of—" Naruto clenched his mouth to stop the words from bubbling out. He was prideful if nothing else, even if there was little inside of him that anyone would envy.

"But I am your father, Naruto, and I would be proud of anything you did. To overcome the Kyuubi and the multiple obstacles set up in your life… you are a miracle, and don't forget that. You are special, Naruto, and to be special and unique does not mean to be ostracized. You are my son, the Fourth Hokage's son," he smiled, "and you will always be loved. No matter who you are, I will love you, cherish you, because you are part of me."

Something broke inside Naruto, and he felt the strangest sensation of tears welling up behind his eyes. Here was a man who was proud of him…who was his father. Someone he didn't think he would meet anywhere—much less inside him. Which meant that he had been watching him all along, and everything he did. "But _why_? I've been so bad. I turned against the village you wanted to protect. I'm tainted."

"You didn't hurt Konoha, and that's all that matters. Anything else can be atoned for in time, and you will spend the rest of your life wisely, Naruto. I can see it." His father's features were gentle and accepting, causing something to lurch inside Naruto's chest. His heart. He had thought it had been burned away by the Kyuubi, but it seemed not.

Minato coughed, forcing Naruto to look at him. "I'm sorry, son. I can't stay—my time was already weak here. I'm afraid I'll have to leave her to explain everything," he said. To Naruto's horror _(he had only found his father and already he was being ripped away, like everything else in his world) _Minato's hands were starting to grow transparent and he shimmered like an old film. "You won't be plagued by the Kyuubi any further, because his power has been sealed away. He won't hurt you anymore." Another gentle, too gentle smile.

"Wait!" Naruto finally yelled, his voice breaking past the obstruction in his throat. "Don't leave. Don't _leave_!" _Not when I finally found you. Found someone who loved me. _

"I'm not leaving… because we will always be here with you. Don't forget us, Naruto…"

And then his father was gone again, like a wisp on the wind.

Naruto staggered back, eyes wide. It felt like someone had taken his chest and ripped a vital organ out (he still refused to say which one was hurting), leaving him blank and empty. A hand instantly materialized on his back, soft and soothing.

"Naruto, it's almost time to go. It may seem like multiple eons have passed in here, but in reality, it has not even been a full minute. You will wake, and stay awake. You will protect Konoha and honor your promises, because that is who you are, so never change your views. You will fight against the Kyuubi should he ever rise to power within your lifetime again…you will _live_," she whispered fiercely.

It caused him to look at her, eyes confused. "Live? For who?"

"For me. For your parents. For Konoha," Nakami answered softly. She looked disturbingly haggard, cheeks sunken and eyes shadowed, clouded over in exhaustion. She looked frail and skinny, worse than when Naruto had seen her for the first time barely a month ago. So much had passed between then and now, and he felt older after it all. So old. "For all those who have died for your sake. Live."

Her hand fell from his shoulder, and she gave a small, happy sigh. "I leave with you knowledge of everything that happened. I have transmitted it to you, so you will remember your mistakes"—he cringed, feeling the weight of foreign memories press down on his brain—"and learn from them."

"Why do you sound like you're leaving too?" Naruto asked, defenses too low and vulnerable to try pulling back up, dignity too far gone to try and mask the hurt and begging and patheticness in his broken voice.

"This is part of why I was created: I was the sacrifice. Someone had to die to carry the Kyuubi's chakra out with them, like your father did with his death god jutsu, but I am already a soul. I will put the demon at rest forever. He is chained here at your mercy." She indicated toward the unmoving orange mass of fur, barely breathing. "He has not lost any of his hatred though. I believe your mistakes will keep you from falling under his spell again, though. So live," she urged once more.

And Nakami smiled.

It was one of the most beautiful things Naruto saw, and he could practically see the tears in her eyes. Then...

She burst apart in a brilliant splash of sparkling particles, falling in slow motion through the air, dissolving. Naruto's jaw hung open as he lost another person—another person for him, who they shouldn't have tried to save at all.

The landscape around him fell too, crumbling away. A burning pain stabbed him, and he knelt on the ground while blackness encompassed his whole being and everything he had ever known, three words continuing to ring in his ears, burning him and his unhealable soul.

"_Live…For us."_

* * *

><p>"What's going on?"<p>

Tsunade's harsh whisper brought Sakura's head whipping around, eyes wide. Her shishou looked focused and cruel, battle-ready like the teams behind her.

It was farther than anything from the emotions swirling inside Sakura.

In times of need, she had never been able to control them well, the pink-haired kunoichi remembered somewhat bitterly. She had sworn to herself this time she would forget about the loathsome emotions scampering around inside her, causing havoc and simply disrupting the lifestyle she'd chosen. After all, if she _wanted _to pay attention to those worthless feelings, she could've just been a housewife and stayed at home all day, tending to her multiple children as her husband worked.

But no, Sakura always had wanted to be stronger. She had always wanted to be something—for herself.

And she had done an okay job, or so she'd thought. In the beginning, Sakura had managed to convince even herself that they would go through it, and at that time, she knew she would. They would kill Naruto and do whatever else they needed to, perhaps at the cost of their own lives if need be.

Then they had been blinded by a strange light, and now, staring at what was left…

_Maybe it's natural that I feel like this, _she tried to reassure herself, ignoring the fact that Tsunade looked firm and strong, like a true leader. Unlike her own probably worried, drawn face; tense body, shaking limbs; results of fear.

A movement in the corner of her eye brought the sight of Yamato to her vision. He looked grim and determined. For one brief second, Sakura allowed herself to wonder why he hadn't stopped Naruto from his transformation—why he hadn't been there to help them, why he couldn't the blame for everything? Then again, it wasn't fair of her to place the burden of blame upon their old taichou's shoulders. It wasn't his fault Naruto had returned the blue crystal necklace of the First Hokage's to Tsunade, preventing Yamato from stopping his transformations. In reality, this was the doing of many people. The Kyuubi, herself, Naruto, Sasuke, the villagers…everyone could find blame, but they had to come to peace with themselves before they could move on.

A silent sob wracked her chest, and one tear dared streak down her cheek before the rest were firmly pushed back. That was the last tear of Sakura's to fall for the rest of the day.

"Please, Tsunade-sama. Do what you need to." Yamato's voice was quiet and reassuring as ever, placing an invisible solid blanket of security around Sakura. He hadn't said, _'Please, Tsunade-sama, save him.' _It was too late to do any saving of any kind.

Tsunade nodded firmly, closing her eyes before opening them abruptly again, turning to Sakura. "Are you sure you don't want to do this, Sakura? Any of you?" she said to the rest of the Konoha 10; the other half had finally caught up just as the blinding flash of light had been sent out from Naruto's body.

They all shook their heads in the negative. Most because, even after all this time, they hadn't experienced as much pain as Tsunade had. And that pain in itself had made Tsunade strong, had made her know what such a burden of killing their loved ones would be.

A selfish, selfish part of Sakura was glad Tsunade would be forced to carry the weight of murdering Naruto.

She squeezed her eyes shut again, breathing heavily to smooth out her thumping heartbeat. It didn't work as whispers stirred behind her, reminding Sakura of the existence of the troops that had followed Tsunade. Those gossiping chunins—jounins—all of them. She clenched her hands, turning her head to shoot a burning green glare at the them.

They flinched back with a collective gasp. Sakura felt a thrill of satisfaction swirl through her, forcing her to bite her lip to keep the somewhat feral growl from slipping out. As she turned back to face the clearing (still managing to keep her eyes averted to the sight of Tsunade slipping forward toward Naruto's prone body) she caught Hinata's pale eye. Surprisingly, the usually soft-spoken—Sakura had learned that Hinata wasn't shy or timid, merely not very vocal with words—Hyuuga didn't have tears of any sort on her face. A glance around showed equal results; it looked as if one good thing had come out of this foolish mess Naruto had created single-handedly.

They had finally learned to be strong. Strong for everything they stood for. They had learned to protect everything they cared for. Naruto had helped them in the end after all.

Later, Sakura had discovered that the Konoha shinobi hadn't been saying bad words about Naruto at all. True, they still had no clue who the slumped figure in the center of the clearing was, and their whispers were merely of curiosity. They had been called out to a war, so where was the battle?

Sakura turned her head back to Tsunade. Her old sensei's head was bowed, and Naruto lay at her feet. His skin looked perfect, no sign of the battle-worn scars or recently inflicted injuries she knew had decorated his skin not moments before. The flash of whiteness had simply erased everything.

The Fifth Hokage raised one hand silently before stiffening. She turned slightly to Yamato, saying in a quiet voice, "Get them away. This is …"

Yamato understood. "Yes, Tsunade-sama. Shall I take the reinforcements to other areas?" Tsunade gave a quick nod of acknowledgment before she raised her hand again. This time, an audible buzz activated before green chakra _(destroying instead of healing this time) _slid cleanly around her fist. Sakura recognized this form of death; it had been the second thing Tsunade had taught her. It was a painless one, meant simply to still the victim's vitals and heartbeat in one super-massive flush of energy.

It seemed Tsunade could not put aside her differences any more than the rest of them. She still wanted the best for Naruto in the end.

Her hand came down.

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Fuuinjutsu: sealing techniques.<strong>

**Hmm, out of obvious reasons, I wonder if I could possibly write something funny. Light. Not so dark and creepy o.o I'm going to try, one day *determined face* I will do it, just watch! On another note, trolling people's faves are awfully fun. And so are writing cliffies –evil smile-**

**Feedback is greatly appreciated ^^ (like always, lol) So if you have the time, please leave a review! Especially since we're nearing the end… ! *puppy dog face* Pleeease. Okay. Done. (Wow, I still can't believe, even though I wrote them all, that DA has over thirty chapters. I must have too much time on my hands, eh.)**

**TBC!**

**P.S. Anyone ever watched Code Geass? **

**P.P.S. Rest assured, Naruto is not dead. (I thought about posting that to reassure anyone who cared, and then I thought about deleting it to be mean, but … I felt nice today. So I kept it.) Was the ending, where the Kyuubi got banished, to your satisfaction? Or should it have been more dramatic, actiony, whatever? Feedback! :)**


	37. Chapter Thirty Five

**A/N: Whoot whoot! Second to last chapter *dances***

**I hope I wrapped everything up in here, because it's gonna be the real ending chapter, as everyone knows the last one is the epilogue XD duh. So if I didn't answer anything, let me know!**

**I still can't believe it's been over half a year already. And over thirty chapters and 200,000 + words O_O We've come so far *turns away to sob***

**Disclaimer: Nah. Nope.**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Chapter Thirty-Five<strong>

_There is no greater sorrow than to recall in misery the time when we were happy. _–Dante

_To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you. _–Unknown

Her hands gripped the curtains half-haphazardly, threatening to rip them apart of she clenched her fists any harder.

Her head leaned against the window absently, eyes staring wide but unseeingly onto the open street where people bustled around like a normal day. And to them, it was a normal day, with nothing out of the ordinary except perhaps the stray unfortunate accident occurring every now and then. They didn't know about the anguish running through her chest and causing her heart to ache right now. They didn't know anything.

Her shoulder shook once, and her mouth opened in a silent, tearless, dry wracking sob. She couldn't cry, she didn't want to cry, but … It seemed Haruno Sakura had finally learned to grow up over the years.

"Sakura!" Her mother's familiar, high voice called from downstairs. Sakura lifted her head, almost cursing herself for her own painfully dry eyes. Why couldn't she ever cry when she wanted to?

"Yes?" she asked, raising her voice as she gave herself an once-over in the cracked mirror they had scavenged _(yes, scavenged) _in the ruins of some poor, long-gone person's home in the aftermaths of all the recent attacks pit upon Konoha. Her reflection seemed warped so her face was unable to be seen, only her crisp black mourning clothes; and for once, she was happy that she was again a nobody.

"Your friends…here…see you!" Some of her mother's words faded in the background as Sakura painstakingly observed the shadows under her eyes that no amount of sleep would repair, because they weren't so much physically induced rather than mentally scarred. She closed tired, hard eyes and turned away from her own pathetic reflection, moving quickly through her house. Her home.

She smiled softly at her mother, who didn't know better to guess that something was wrong other than the fact that she was attending a funeral. "Come back soon, dear," she murmured and shut the door behind Sakura.

In front of her waited Ino and her team along with Hinata and Kiba. Even Akamaru seemed downcast, ears lower than usual and eyes drooping. A soft whine emitted from his throat every now and then as if in response to the terrifyingly gloomy mood hanging over the six shinobi as they moved like shadows through the quiet streets. It began drizzling lightly, but none of them bothered to stop and find some sort of cover. There were no words exchanged.

Along the way, they gathered Shino and Tenten before meeting up with Neji and Lee at a crossroad. Sai joined them silently later, and they were as complete as they could get—yet, the feeling of loss still rang in their hearts and every heartbeat reminded them of their loss.

At last, they reached the mourning grounds. The funeral wasn't held in Konoha. In the past, it might have been of reasons like yelling and insults, had the one they were mourning stayed, or even perhaps tears if the one they were mourning had become a hero like he had desired. Today, it was the fear of curious questions that kept them out of their sacred home. The eleven ninjas emerged from the wet trees to a light meadow, still strangely green and budding with flowers. A single, stony plaque lay in the center of the meadow and nothing else, not even a coffin. Flowers had already been piled luxuriously around the plaque, which, as they came closer, they saw had Konoha's symbol carved on it. There was no name.

"Thank you for coming," Tsunade said quietly from behind them, as if talking too loud would disturb the heavy peace that lay over them like a thick blanket. It wasn't like they _wouldn't _have come…not for him.

"Will there be a service?" Sakura's voice was small, nearly lost amid the sudden pickup of rain. It seemed the weather favored those who lost their lives bravely, crying tears for those who deserved them. Tsunade shook her head in a miniscule gesture, and surprisingly enough, none of them were astonished. It would not only have risked too much questions and curiosity, it would have made things public. This was a private funeral, a mourning for the select few in which the dead really mattered.

The next hour and a half passed in a strange blur. No tears streaked down, not that anyone could have seen them in the now thundering rain. Lightning flashed occasionally over the desolate treetops and an ominous wind howled through the branched, but otherwise, things were quiet and peacefully so. They were allowed to mourn in peace, mourn for everything and everyone and every word and every moment that had been robbed from them. They mourned for a friend and for a teammate and for a comrade, for a leader and a lonely soul and a fellow shinobi. They mourned for Uzumaki Naruto.

People came and went. Shizune popped in and even shed a few tears before returning back to the hospital with a colder heart. The once-upon-a-time rookies' team leaders (those that were still alive) passed by, bowing their heads respectfully before moving on like they knew how to, like they were trained to. It was the only way they knew how to survive and not let their emotions cloud their minds and take over completely. Iruka and Konohamaru passed through, and both were clearly distraught but tried hard to control their soundless sobs. Nobody else came.

Only those who remembered him the way he deserved to be remembered…and that was all they could ever ask for.

Sakura was hardly aware of Ino bidding a quiet farewell nor Shikamaru and Chouji leaving with her; she barely recognized the wave Kiba and Hinata gave as they followed Shino away; Neji's own solemn goodbye was almost covered by the thick musical sound of falling rain as well as his team's footsteps crunching away. She was so absorbed in staring at a silent grave and caught up in her past mistakes that she was forced to have Tsunade shake her roughly to wake her up.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" she asked sternly.

"Huh? Oh. I'm…fine." Sakura fell silent again. Sai hovered worriedly near her, only leaving when Tsunade nodded her dismissal toward him. Even then, she was aware of him glancing back reluctantly.

"It's okay to cry, you know. It isn't a weakness."

"But don't you see?" Sakura whispered passionately as she abruptly turned away from the marker signaling where Uzumaki Naruto was not buried. "He's not gone."

Tsunade eyed her with a mixture of sadness and wariness. She hoped that this wasn't the first sign of insanity, but who knew? Grief often made the most strong-hearted of shinobi crazy in their denial that their loved ones were truly gone forever. She would know. Sakura caught the look and a small smirk quirked her lips, self-mocking in a way.

"No, I'm not going insane, sensei. He's not gone because he's in here, with me." She gestured to her heart. "Like Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei. They will all be with me forever." Tsunade relaxed at her words, reassured that her former pupil wasn't losing her mind. The mention of Sasuke prompted her to remember something and she snapped.

"Right. Sasuke. So you remember the two scenes we investigated after Naruto, right?" Sakura nodded, instinctively knowing that it was past the time for mourning and onto more serious matters. "They were quite destroyed. But the curious thing is, there were no bodies in either scene, even though one of them suggested large burns from fire jutsus and scorches of the chidori."

"So, that means Sasuke was at least in there, probably with Itachi and the rest of the Akatsuki members. Are there any new info on them, by the way?" Her mind slipped easily back into the role of the practical medic she had played for the past two years of her life.

"No, but I have good reason to believe that they've been disbanded for the time being. Pein and Konan have disappeared; I don't think they'll be doing any harm with Madara out of the way…" Tsunade frowned and began the trek back to Konoha as Sakura fell neatly into step behind her as they made their way through the dripping trees.

Sakura furrowed her brow inquisitively. "How do you know that?"

"Well," Tsunade said grimly, "I'll show you when we get back to the tower. It doesn't matter anyway if Madara is still alive. The one they have been chasing after for so long is gone." Both fell silent at the reminder that Naruto was dead; not only that, the fact that they had not even given him a proper burial weighed between them heavily. Naruto was, in fact, still in a hospital cot covered with a blanket to hide his identity right now in the hospital. It was too dangerous to bury him in close proximity to Konoha because should the Kyuubi not actually be dead, he could easily burst free from his only restraining — Naruto's body—and destroy the village. It was a safety precaution…

Or so they told themselves.

"So Suna will take him and bury him out in the desert?" Sakura said, broaching the topic cautiously. Every time she was even reminded of Naruto, her heart fell a little more and the hole in her chest ripped a little wider and she was reminded of how she had felt when Kakashi died. Sasuke was probably the only one left alive, if he was even still out there somewhere.

_But this is for me, _she told herself. _Every pain I must endure will make me stronger. I won't be hurt so easily again._

_Only because there is no one left to hurt._

"Yes," Tsunade was saying. "We will have to bid our farewells today." She closed hazel-brown eyes and sighed, opening them just in time to see a sunbeam shoot from the thick cloud covered sky and light up the dirt path in front of them. It lasted only a second but was enough for Tsunade to believe the prediction, the sign, that their future would be a more peaceful one.

It was just unfortunate that they would have to go through a little more pain to achieve that happiness.

* * *

><p>Darkness. Quietness. Not only that, but a terrible dullness that came with the accompanying fear that he couldn't even feel his own body.<p>

Naruto tried to move his finger. His foot. Open his eyes—do anything! A dull burn began to throb in his chest. Had the Kyuubi finally managed to take over, perhaps? Was that why he could not even move his own body? Was this how it felt to be pushed to the back of his own mind and be left there?

He pushed himself back into the corners of his mind, searching desperately for something. Anything. The hollowness that answered him just confirmed his suspicion that something was definitely very, very wrong right now.

Where was the Kyuubi anyway?

Where was that room, the one with golden bars and a giant beast residing within? No hallways, no sewers, no endless water drops dripping from the unseen ceiling? No voices, whispering silent mocking words?

Nothing.

Only infinite darkness, black as his own soul probably was by now. He tried to scream then, mouthing words like, _Where are you? Why did you leave me in here? _over and over, forgetting about his own past promises not to break down. It was too late. Panic was beginning to take over when he encountered something sharp and shard-like, glimmering brightly. He closed his fist over it, ignoring the sharp pain that he felt when the jagged edges pressed into his vulnerable palm, desperate not to let something else float away from him.

The moment he touched it, he was transported into something else. Images in rapid succession filed across his vision as well as the memories his conscious had unwittingly buried from him in order to protect him.

There were flashes of Nakami, standing bold and strong despite everything she had gone through, eyes dark and hair flying as she faced the Kyuubi boldly and whispered soft words to him. His father that looked so similar to him, who loved him. The Kyuubi, lying still and motionless as his power had been sucked from him. Endless blackness, a bleak landscape, a dozen glowing crystal shards as Nakami had simply dissolved. White hot pain, and strangely enough, the Konoha 10's faces.

_What? _He muttered, staggering back. The crystal was still clenched in his hand and he bit his lip harshly. That's right. Nakami had died for him…he had met his father in the strangest way possible…the Kyuubi was gone for now but who knew when he would gather enough power to return again?... and finally, was he dead?

No, Naruto decided. While he seemed trapped in his mindscape, he could still feel his body, even though it was immobile and there seemed to be no heartbeat. Was he living on his will alone, then? His promise?

"_Live…for us."_

Nakami's words echoed around in his head, bringing back more memories, but foreign this time. His eyes squeezed shut, feeling the strange, unfamiliar memories push for acceptance in his mind. He knew, if only he would let them, the memories would guide him to the answers to all his questions. He just had to be strong enough to look into them and survive.

Naruto smiled a little grimly. He would because he had to. There was a stronger resolve burning in his chest now, one he hadn't felt in a while when it had been repressed by the Kyuubi's omnipotent chakra and his own darker side that salivated for power. Both seemed to be gone now though.

The first memory pushed closer to him, and Naruto grabbed it without hesitation. It was the first step to healing his broken soul—answers were what he needed.

The memory was made of nothing but strange snatches of color and feelings; alone, sadness, anguish, happiness, black and blue and yellow and red. So much red. Confusion, acceptance, a certain guiltiness that never vanished but merely ended up blending in. Without an explanation, Naruto knew it was Nakami's past revealed through a mirage of senses.

The second memory was stranger but gave more of an answer. Nakami had already known about Naruto's condition, he realized, just as she had known about Sasuke's brutality and his quest. She had resolved to not only send Sasuke home but help aid Naruto, and when she had been healing him, she had discovered the Kyuubi, leading to a brief conference with his mother _(red, red hair was all he saw) _when she had been pulled out instead of his father. In one brilliantly clear moment, he saw his mother staring at him and smiling before the memory faded away. Nakami had left to think about the knowledge his mother had imparted with him about the specially hidden seal that could only be activated by love (the emotion's strength was stronger than anything hatred could produce) and a sacrifice and an Uchiha to subdue the fox's strength and keep him captivated.

It was then Nakami had had a startling moment of clarity. It was this she had been born for, Naruto reflected as he felt her sudden sense of belonging flood through him. She had been born to help Naruto because he had always been the one helping—in turn, it was his time to receive and heal and _live._ He would help those that came after him.

That memory dissolved too. There was one last memory, more of snippets of information than anything else. How tired she felt when she was drawing the complicated seal on the floor, how she kept persevering through it anyway to use up her chakra and pour her life energy into storing away the Kyuubi's chakra… How she had had to release the Kyuubi from his cage in order to get Minato to appear, according to Kushina's directions, and trying frantically to find Naruto and hoping that it wasn't too late to save him. Her worry for Sasuke, wondering what had happened to him now that she was going to be gone soon. Millions of tiny facts imbedded themselves into Naruto's brain, and when he gasped, they scattered.

_So that's what happened, _he thought to himself. That's right. The sacrifice, everything. He stood shakily, bracing a hand on his knee, knowing he would have to wake up now that he remembered everything. It was only right, anyhow.

Taking one last look around his black surroundings _(he couldn't help wondering briefly if the Kyuubi really was dead; his usually bloodthirsty energy lurking underneath Naruto's skin was gone, hidden away) _he closed his eyes once more. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated, focusing back on his normal body.

He tried to reconnect with it, knowing that it was going to be hard since technically by all rights—he should be dead. Willpower was his driving force, as well as the promises still he had to keep. Promises were what damned him and what made him, he thought bitterly.

The first thing he felt was a rushing noise in his head, like he was sucked into a wind tunnel or something. Then cool sheets pressed against his fingertips, and there was a deathly sweet smell of faint decay hanging in the air. Naruto instinctively wrinkled his nose, realizing only after the action was completed that he _could wrinkle _his nose. He was back in his own body, it seemed, and for a brief second, Naruto was sad. His limbs felt terribly heavy, his body ached everywhere, and not only that... now that he was back in reality, he would have to face the world again. Face everyone.

_Or I could run, _he thought, the idea slinking into his mind. Run as usual, run from his problems. After all, it wasn't like he could stay in Konoha—he had already experienced the ultimate rush, tasted the most delectable wine, felt the giddiness that power brought. That the _Kyuubi's _power brought, a mix of chakra that made you feel invincible, like you could take on the world.

A power that was now unattainable forever.

Naruto gritted his teeth, dispelling the images of destroying and power. It was a heady thing, power, but it wasn't to be misused like the Nine-tails wished. That chakra wasn't to be misrepresented.

He told himself those truths _(lies) _over and over, repeating them in his head till they blurred and almost lost their meaning. It wasn't like he meant to, really! It was just the simple matter that once you tasted something, touched it, felt the draw it had over you, it was very hard to break free from it. One brush of that power could keep you addicted forever, craving it; Naruto knew all that.

It was the pull the Kyuubi created on purpose, then, he resolved grimly. He wanted to lose his hosts in their own mad bloodthirsty desire and then claw to control. After all, wasn't that how demons operated? Keeping to the shadows, like shinobi. Unlike them, though, demons preferred to strike any who dared stand in their way—the brave, stupid, foolish ones—and stain everything in colors of red. It was the easy way.

It was only regrettable that Naruto could have saved the demon from his own demonic ways.

Oh, not the way he had been recently, so corrupted and destroying everything. Not with so much blood stained on his hands. But maybe before—when he had stayed here in Konoha, in the hazy days, he could have eventually made peace with the Kyuubi. He could have resolved it from its hatred, accepted it like he had been by Iruka, become its friend…even eventually.

When had he started to refer to the Kyuubi as _it_ again?

Naruto sighed softly. The scratchy, light blanket above him barely stirred by his breath, and Naruto knew that his time to escape was growing shorter. Every second he continued to stay here was another second to escape wasted. As far as he knew, the only reason he was in the morgue was because they thought he was dead. So if he escaped, who would be wiser? At least they hadn't buried him yet, he thought somewhat sardonically. And now, to the actual matters of escaping...

He experimentally twitched his hand, pleased when it responded well. Maybe his body had kept some of the Kyuubi's exponentially fast healing rate, although the idea was unlikely. The weights on his limbs seemed to have lifted a little, lessening to the extent where he could fully move his arms. Naruto did so cautiously; he didn't want some nurse walking in and freaking out because the sheet was moving in a place dead people populated.

Naruto tested his legs. They moved well, smoothly, and he knew he couldn't delay it any further. He breathed deeply, moving his hands slowly underneath the cloth to create a seal. Natural energy from outside flowed in him; he was careful not to take too much in, in the fear that he would become a stone statue. It had been a while since he practiced his Sage state skills, and he didn't want to overdo it on his first attempt. After all, he only needed enough chakra to reinstate his own chakra and therefore be able to sense any Konoha shinobi.

After two minutes of grueling work (it produced sweat on his forehead—gathering chakra did! And that was something that should have come easily to Naruto. What did it bode for his escape plan?) Naruto finally released his hand from the seal. His hearing seemed a tad sharper, and after expanding his senses a little, he finally exhaled.

His hands moved to the sheet. They hesitated for one half of second, wondering if this would bring him a new future of a good or bad sort. A millisecond later, his lips twisted into a smirk. Good? Bad? He had already decided those were irrelevant things, hadn't he? The whole concept of good and bad was a convoluted, twisted thing that people used to blame on their enemies. And so, with all that rushing through his mind, Naruto thrust off the blanket, letting it fall carelessly over the side and crumple to the ground. He swung his feet off the side of the cot, testing the icy floors and breathing in the smell of death that hit him more prominently now that there was no barrier between him and the room's oxygen.

And at last, Naruto opened his eyes.

Everything seemed like shadows on shadows—black on black. He could see enough to recognize the lumpy long shapes lying in rows to his immediate left; more bodies. Judging on the smell, he had only been in this dank place for about an hour, because the flesh smell wasn't changing to that of decomposing yet.

Naruto shook his head slightly, ignoring the lurching feeling in his stomach and the small accompanying roll of nausea. His eyes had no trouble adjusting to the dark after that. Whether it was lingering effects of the Kyuubi or the natural energy he had absorbed, Naruto didn't know. Whatever it was, it was helpful as it aided him in locating the door quickly; three paces to his right and then ten paces up.

The first step was easy. His foot glided smoothly over the linoleum tiles, chillingly cold under his feet. The second step was a little harder as his muscles got adjusted to moving again, as if they had been very sore or comatose for a long time. Naruto frowned, rolling his shoulders back slightly, resisting the urge to look over his shoulder at the dead bodies. It wasn't as if they would suddenly jump back to life _(like he had). _Still, it unnerved him that it was so silent—wasn't this a hospital? So what if he didn't make any noise? There were supposed to be nurses somewhere, right?

He breathed through his nose, trying to calm his unreasonable anxieties. What was he thinking? Nurses? They would just discover him, the opposite of what he wanted. If it were up to Naruto, and if he was at full strength, he would blast a hole through the wall and escape that way. However, his limited power and chakra right now only provided him with one escape route: the door, and from there, out of the hospital. He set his face in a firm expression, determined to move through whatever pain might lie in store for him.

Third step. Fourth, fifth, eighth, and finally he reached the door, leaning heavily against the doorframe. _Ugh_, Naruto thought, _at this rate I won't even be able to cast a weak genjutsu around me. _His breathing was labored again, his eyesight fuzzy, his forehead breaking out in sweat. This must be what it was like coming back from the dead. The thought wasn't humorous.

He must've leaned there for a good couple of minutes, regaining his breath and bringing his body back to normal. The vague idea that he should have developed some sort of plan at least before charging out crossed his mind but he dismissed it. How could he think in this state anyway? His mind still felt a little numb as it was.

Naruto clenched his hand around the door, pulling it open cautiously. Maybe he should cast a henge? No, it would only attract people to the strange chakra signature. He slipped out of the room, barely remembering to pull the door shut behind him once more as he fled like a shadow down the hallway. Lights blazed terrifyingly bright through the cracks under doors, and fluorescent lighting lit the overhead corridor. The hospital's antiseptic smell clung to him, erasing the decomposing smell but replacing it with something just as bad. Curiously, there were no nurses or medics around to catch him; Naruto didn't dwell on that fact too long. Whatever the reason, it was good for him to escape unnoticed.

It all was going quite well as he darted through hallway after hallway, somehow remembering the intricate maze-like setup of the hospital despite the years. He leaped down a stairwell, jumped into an alcove as a nurse wheeled by, and then ran down another staircase. Yes, it all was going quite well until he got to the ground floor, and then things began to get tricky.

Medics appeared around every corner, forcing him to duck into (luckily) empty rooms and even cast a transformation jutsu hastily, draining his meager chakra even more. He didn't have time to stop and gather more natural energy and besides, freedom was so close. He just had to break out through the back door or something… Then something went wrong. Up till now, he hadn't met anyone he knew (thankfully). Naruto shouldn't have expected it to stay that way. Just as he sighted the open window a mere tantalizing twenty feet away, he heard a familiar voice weighed down with sadness but still issuing orders expertly. Sakura.

"Bring him over here! We need to treat him as quickly as possible. Yumino-san, it's going to be okay. He'll survive," he heard her soothingly say. The voices grew louder as the group approached, causing Naruto to hiss in frustration as he was trapped in the closet he had jumped into. For one heart-stopping moment, the entourage seemed to stop right outside the closet, and he held his breath... then, he heard them moving into the room next door and sighed, only to seize up again as he heard another male's voice calling.

"Haruno-san! Kazekage-sama is here to transport a body; is it prepared?"

"Oh! Yes, a moment," Sakura said as her footsteps hurried past in the direction Naruto had just come from. He couldn't mistake the lonely tone in her voice and the hidden tears; she seemed sadder than usual. Had something happened perhaps, earlier today?

Then the full effect of the doctor's words hit him. Kazekage. Gaara. The only body Gaara would take must be _his_—but he was right here, so when Sakura reached the morgue, she would discover he was no longer there—and then all hell would break loose. Naruto cursed in his head as he yanked open the door, recklessly running down the corridor so fast he must have seemed like a blur had anyone been watching. It was too late to consider his consequences as he jumped through the window, lithely landing on his feet and springing away into the twilight. His heart thudded erratically as a stitch began forming in his side, muscles protesting loudly. It was a chase, like those he had longed for back when he was a missing-nin…well, he still was a missing-nin, nothing had changed there. But yes, it was a chase, chasing him, the prey, but he couldn't let them catch him or else everything would be all over.

He had to run to protect them, the strangest irony of all.

Naruto thought he heard a shout behind him as he weaved past civilians who stared confusedly after him _(wondering what the strange blur had been)_. He didn't stop to investigate, in case it really had been someone discovering his miraculous departure. The wind bit chillingly through his thin clothes, in which Naruto realized that he now had on some black shirt and what could only be described as hospital pants. At least it wasn't a hospital gown.

The sun had obviously just set, Naruto noted as he raced through the unfamiliar streets. The Konoha hospital was in the west side of the rebuilt village, so he veered toward the lingering rays of red stretching across the purpling sky, hoping to reach the forests before anything drastic happened.

It was a, unfortunately, futile wish. He had barely ran for more than three minutes before a clanging alarm sounded, shrieking, making Naruto wince and resist the urge to cover his ears childishly. He grimaced instead, forcing his legs to move quicker, aware of the heartbeat thumping in his ears.

The next moments were full of surprise and instinctual behavior. Something in Naruto acted by sheer intuition, twisting into a dark alleyway just in time as a fleet of white-masked ANBU flitted overhead. After that, he barely made it another block before another platoon of jounin ninjas darted by, clearly on the hunt for something. He frowned. It was going to be even harder to escape now, but definitely not impossible. Never impossible. A hunting smile lit his features as he poured newfound strength into his limbs, curving along the roads and taking shortcuts between alleyways. Once he scared a woman throwing her garbage away, causing a loud shriek to ring through the air above the clanging alarm, drawing several chunin. By the time they got to her, though, Naruto was already long gone.

He crossed the border with surprisingly little fanfare. The adrenaline of the chase hadn't died down—not at all—but he felt confident that he could escape now. There was nothing left for him behind, nothing left for him in the future, so he just had to carve out his own path.

It was while he was thinking that, already half a mile away from Konoha, that he felt the familiar chakra signature catch on behind him.

Naruto spun, cursing that he didn't have any weapons on him. He crouched, ready to defend himself.

There was no need.

Sakura lurched to a halt in front of him, chest heaving and hair stuck to her face. Eyes were wild and green, glowing in the dark almost in a cat-like manner. "Naruto," she breathed, looking baffled. "How are you still—?"

"Leave, Sakura," Naruto commanded coolly. He really wished he still had the protective chakra of the Kyuubi's right now, but unfortunately, Nakami and his father seemed to have made it impossible. _Once you have a taste of something, it's near impossible to let go of, _he reminded himself. "I don't want to hurt you, and you can't stop me."

"I won't," she said, shaking her head. She still had rubber gloves on; she had probably checked the morgue, then run straight toward the border in hopes of catching him.

"You can't come with me either."

"I'm not going to." Sakura's words confused Naruto. If none of that, what did she want? Why did she even bother coming after him? "I know you have your own path now, Naruto. You've chosen the direction you want to take, and I cannot stop that. You could've been happier in Konoha, that I know, but if you think you belong out here, then be free. I didn't come to stop you."

Naruto let the words sink in, feeling something in him lift. His eyes remained cool though. "Then what are you here for?"

"I just wanted to tell you…" Sakura took a deep breath, twisting her fingers in the dim light of the moon that had begun to rise. She locked eyes with him again, and they looked as sad as before. "Pein and Konan are probably out there, but they won't bother you anymore. Madara has been vanquished by Itachi, the evidence seems, because Itachi has disappeared too. Sasuke is somewhere here, though, and... will you keep your promise, Naruto?"

The last was whispered in a wistful sort of way, as Sakura allowed herself to hope foolishly before squashing that same hope. "Ha, don't bring Sasuke back," she breathed. "Aren't I a hypocrite? To say follow your own path, yet trying to force Sasuke back against his will." Her eyes closed. "Just, try and find him. It might clear up some answers, and…" she hesitated, seeming not to know what to say. Naruto stood awkwardly in front of her. "Your grave is around here too."

The last was released in a woosh of air. Sakura turned sharply. "Well, that's it. This is goodbye again, Naruto, it seems. Always farewell." Her head lowered before her legs tensed, preparing to leap away. She looked back once, eyes darting over him as if to memorize his prone figure. Her cheeks were shining wetly in the moonlight. "Good…bye…"

And then Sakura was gone, leaving nothing but a breeze to signal her departure.

Naruto knew she was leaving this time for good.

* * *

><p>It was déjà vu all over again. Reminiscent from that first night, so long ago, when the Kyuubi had somehow persuaded his broken mind to escape from Konoha; it was just as dark and just as lonely, feeling like he had lost everything in the world…<p>

Yet, Naruto felt strangely fulfilled too. He finally knew where he was going to go after this, what he was going to do. And first on that list was finding Sasuke.

It wasn't very hard.

The clearings where large fights had taken place weren't hard to miss. It was obvious Sasuke had been here, along with some unwelcome guests. Naruto took in the ruffled earth, fresh dirt showing up at every groove dug into the ground. Weapons still littered it here and there, but it looked more like primal, lithe, dangerous animals had been fighting here rather than ninjas—rather than human beings. Of course, what else to be expected of Uchihas?

Naruto was attracted by a large caw then, and he lifted his head to search the dim darkness. His eyes narrowed as he saw the hunched form of a raven, blood red sharingan tilting in the bird's eye as he jerked his head toward Naruto before spreading midnight wings and flapping off slowly. Naruto set off after it, instinctively knowing to follow it but not knowing what was at the end.

After a few minutes of weaving between trees, movements now coming more fluidly to Naruto as he avoided low-hanging branches and tree stumps, he reached a small creek. It babbled refreshingly in the wintery night, light rippling over the black-looking water. Directly across the creek was a large tree. In that tree was Sasuke, leaning on a branch.

Naruto didn't say anything as the raven mysteriously disappeared. Both pretended to ignore the other's presence for a while before Naruto grew tired of the game. He had somewhere to go, somewhere he would rather be, than talking to the one person he didn't save. But he had promised, and this was the last promise he would try to deliver. "So, how did the fight go?"

"Madara's dead," came the low reply. "Itachi and I killed him." The figure in the tree didn't move, arms hanging by its side rather limply. There was a shiny figure stuck in the wood's flesh beside the prone figure, sticking straight up and shining coldly. The Kusanagi.

It wasn't a surprise to Naruto that Madara was dead. It seemed all of the geezer's sins had finally caught up to him. Naruto sighed softly, the noise oddly loud in the hushed night. Even the crickets had been scared away by the ruckus of the day before, he thought as he moved to sit lightly on a cold stone that overlooked the rushing creek and waited. He couldn't force Sasuke to talk, but something in him suspected that if he left him alone long enough, he would. Just as there was something different—_missing_—about Naruto now, there was something lessened in Sasuke. Something was lighter.

And Sasuke talked. "Ha. The man didn't even suspect it…no, he did," he corrected himself, finally bringing his arms up to clench his hands in front of his face, silhouetted against the bright moon that had fully risen by now. The hint of insanity was still there, as surely as the fact that it was still in Naruto's eyes. Power, revenge, they did that to people. "He knew we were going to kill him, but he didn't know I only killed him so I could finally fight Itachi and defeat him. He kept running, you know? He wouldn't stop. But then Madara died with that look of smug satisfaction on his face, and Itachi just looked at me. Looked at me with those smiling eyes, he breathed… and then he died."

"Did you kill him?" Naruto asked, morbidly curious. Had he finally succeeded in his revenge? Was that what was lighter?

"…No. I didn't kill him… He just died. He fell, and I didn't even touch him!" Sasuke's head lifted, and the red glinted clearly in the dark, but they were a different pattern than what Naruto was used to seeing. Instead of black on red, they were now red on black, three circles overlapping—

Naruto turned his head away, trying to control his breathing again. Why should looking into such eyes bring a thrill down his spine? He wouldn't let Sasuke take control again, so he turned his head determinedly back; by then, Sasuke had already faced forward again, his head tilted more toward the moon to allow the light to shine over his pale visage. Something dark like blood shone on his cheeks.

"So basically…he just died?" Naruto repeated slowly. Now that Sasuke was looking away, the fear was receding to a bad nightmare.

"He died," Sasuke said in a hollow voice, and finally Naruto knew what was missing from Sasuke. It wasn't his anger and revenge. It was that he was lost—floating somewhere, unsure of where to go now, because he no longer had a place to go without revenge. He was simply confused, broken, _lost._

_(Like how you've always been lost yourself, and are still lost, without a home, homeless, lonely, lostlostlost…but no, now you have somewhere to go, so you have to stop being selfish and find somewhere for Sasuke. No one deserves solitude.)_

Naruto ignored the thoughts spinning around in his mind, placing a hand under his chin. The moonlight was cold now, freezing like he was. "Then go—" Not home, because there was no home left for either of them. If home was where the heart is, that heart had been deserted long down the path; now home was wherever their goal took them.

"Just leave," Sasuke echoed quietly, arms falling back to his sides laxly. His head hit the bark as he leaned backwards. "Disappear?"

"Yes, disappear," Naruto agreed, standing. He was pretty sure Sasuke would be okay now. "Don't kill any more. Help save people now, go where the wind takes you." He briefly considered saying _fly_, but that was too ironic and too strange. So with a brief smile that Sasuke probably couldn't see, Naruto turned to leave only to be halted as Sasuke's voice rang softly through the night again.

"He…he said," Sasuke muttered, "fight. Fight for what you believed in, what I believed in. Listen to me for the last time. That's what he said." Naruto paused, on the verge of disappearing and merging back into the shadows.

"Then listen to him and fight."

Naruto looked back after his lopsided version of advice only to be greeted with emptiness. Sasuke was gone as well, vanishing into the darkness he'd been a part of for so long. No doubt he would continue to stalk in that darkness, but hopefully with a different intent than before. Naruto turned again.

_Maybe, _he thought as he took the first step toward his new beginning, his new future, feeling emptier but fuller than before all at once. _Maybe, all the mistakes we made in this life…_

Not so far away, a blonde-haired Hokage bowed her head against the window, a handful of mourners behind her as they grieved for the chance that had passed them by again. One particular shinobi looked toward the stars, green eyes bright despite all the pain they had suffered.

…_all the mistakes will be cured soon by the only disease that heals everyone…we will be forgiven for our sins._

A black shadow raced through the trees, no longer knowing what his purpose was, but feeling lightened now that his revenge was gone.

_Perhaps one day, a fateful day from now, our paths will cross again. Our fates will entwine again as one, as the one we were meant to be…if not, then we'll just meet again after death, because despite everything…_

Naruto was once again alone as he forged his way through the woods, staring at the cold-looking moon and wondering if others were seeing the same sky, the same stars, the same unearthly orb hanging high in the sky. Was he alone? No…he could never be alone, now that he had his memories back. They would keep him company throughout the chilliest days.

He would never be alone.

_Because despite everything, we are connected. We will never stop being connected. We are a part of you, you are a part of us. _

And as their lives moved on again, nobody noticed as Uzumaki Naruto's name was removed from the 'missing-nin' files. Nobody noticed the corpses that stopped coming, the bloodstains that were carefully removed, the person who erased from their memories.

But some people remembered. And that was what mattered.

_Someday, we will meet again, because we cannot be apart. We are inseparable, we are one._

_Naruto._

* * *

><p><strong>Sasuke in this chapter was inspired by the possibility of which he could have turned into, had Madara not CORRUPTED him. Cough. <strong>

**So, once again, anything I missed, let me know so I can fix it! :) Reviews rock because feedback keeps the mind going, etc, and I am so going to write a shorter story next time… um, did I say that out loud? Anyway, thanks for coming with me this far! Hang in there for another week…**

**BTW, anyone have any ideas on a story to do next? I was thinking of unrelated one-shots compiled to make one 'story', with different cliché het pairings like SasuSaku, NaruSaku, NaruHina, ShikaIno, etc. inspired by a random word. A challenge! But anyway, I'm always happy to hear ideas ^^ **

**Thank you all for everything! See you :) **

**TBC!**

**P.S. I apologize for the later and later chapters…meh. Well I had a busy week, including this weekend which was my birthday! 8D**


	38. Epilogue

**A/N: I've always wanted to do this speech….**

**But I'll wait till the end. And here is the epilogue to our super-long (not) saga, finally concluded. ^^ I hope it's been a fun ride for you because it certainly has for me! Enjoy! (and sorry for the long wait. I was busy…which included watching 'The Woman in Black' and not being able to freaking sign in to fanfiction…T_T)**

**Also, sorry for the super long quotes. But I think they really apply to the story! And I deliberately didn't mention any specific couples, because well all the people who read this probably have different tastes.**

**Disclaimer: Because I won't be back for a while, I OWN NARUTO! –is hit for lying-**

* * *

><p><strong>Dark Angel: Epilogue<strong>

_You showed me—that the greatest act of love is to sacrifice your life for another. That the greatest act of loyalty is to protect even those who betrayed you. That the greatest act of courage is to stay standing despite every fight you lost, to continue the fight to the last air you breathe, to go on until the last beat of your heart. To fight the darkness that wished to claim you… to fight the chains others force on you… To fight for what you believe in, for the right to live, to be. I learned them all after everything. _–Hic Iacet Mori, _The Sky_

_When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again, you will know me. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart.  
><em>_For as long as you remember me, I am never entirely lost. When I'm feeling most ghost-like, it is your remembering me that helps remind me that I actually exist. When I'm feeling sad, it's my consolation. When I'm feeling happy, it's part of why I feel that way. If you forget me, one of the ways I remember who I am will be gone. If you forget, part of who I am will be gone. _–Frederick Buechner

It was today again, huh.

A hand was propped under her chin. Eyes older and colder than when they had been over ten years ago _(for they had finally glimpsed enough of the world's terror and anger and most of all, sadness) _looked, glazed, out the window into the street.

It was a busy day. People bustled about, unmindful of the silent mourning going on throughout the homes scattered through Konoha. After all, why should they? It was something barely anyone remembered, and even those who did had begun to forget the true meaning of love and care and unconquerable friendship. And to add to the hustle and bustle, the new Hokage was being properly established the next day; Sarutobi Konohamaru had insisted on moving it from today, she remembered with a chuckle. At least Tsunade was finally stepping down. Her genjutsu was beginning to take a toll on her, and she'd sworn to journey the country after tomorrow searching for the world's best hot springs.

A door slamming brought her out of her reverie. "I'm home!" called a small, high-pitched voice.

"How was your first day at the Academy?" she asked, standing quickly and fixing her short hair before grabbing a snack from the fridge. "Fun?"

"Yep! Iruka-sensei taught us lots of stuff, and I made new friends—" babbled the cheerful child. Thumping footsteps announced the boy's arrival into the kitchen. The woman smiled at her son, patting his head softly. To think Iruka would still teach, even after all these years. Well, _she _still performed as a medic, so it shouldn't really be a surprise.

There was another light tapping on the door that brought her head jerking toward it. She didn't have to sense the chakra of the person waiting outside for her to know it was time to go. Patting her son's head softly, the pink-haired woman smiled. "I have to go for a little, okay? Daddy should be coming back any second now. Make sure you tell your tale to him too!" The child nodded seriously and she left, closing the front door behind her quietly.

"It's time again," said the woman—no longer a child; none of them were young mentally anymore—musically, still looking as graceful as she had all those years before. She smiled at her teammates, comrades, dear friends who'd grown alongside her, and they departed, moving sinuously through Konoha's busy streets.

The village was long repaired, looking grand and magnificent and just starting to get the wear on its buildings from constant exposure to the elements that signaled stableness. The familiar five faces (soon to be six) of the Hokages perched over the village, forever watching, on and on.

"Where's Neji?" A rugged, more feral man asked as they darted through the trees. Kiba's hair had grown longer and eyes fiercer, Akamaru bigger than ever, but while his appearance certainly belied that of a fearsome man, his family disposition proved otherwise. The pale, elegant woman beside him spoke, confidently. Her features were no different, except with a definite wiser air about her.

"He had some ANBU business to attend to with Lee, Tenten, Shino, and Sai. They'll join us at the grave."

The others nodded, already knowing that little bit of information Hinata had passed on. Halfway to their destination, a pretty blonde-haired woman groaned dramatically, causing the rest of the group to stop and stare inquisitively. A man with lazy features sighed, "She's just acting again. Don't bother her, the woman's tougher than she looks, unfortunately."

"Nara! Just because you got a soft little non-shinobi wife at home doesn't mean I can't feel pain! Being pregnant is hard!" The woman snapped, but with a trace of good-humor in her blue eyes. She would never harm her teammates intentionally, because after the fiasco of more than twelve years back, the Konoha 10 had learned to forgive. They had learned to appreciate what they had, something people rarely remembered until it was too late.

"You know, Ino, saying that really doesn't help your case," a larger man behind him chuckled humorously as they started up their long trek again. Just in case, though, they slowed their pace a little. "We know you still actively participate in the medical hospital, even though they tell you not to since you're one month away from your due date."

"That's true," said Kiba, laughing. "I bet you'll go straight back to missions after your baby boy is born."

Ino blushed furiously while the rest of them smiled fondly at her. Nearly all of them had children, despite the fact that bonds were easily severed in the ninja world. However, someone long ago had taught them the lesson that any pain was worth it—a family was worth it; it was worth everything to have a family _at all. _To be alone was the harshest punishment of all. Of course, Sai was a lone exception, but they all knew he was secretly seeing a beautiful black-haired lady on the side; marriage was soon.

"Akimichi Chouji! You can't say anything. You've been fawning over your lovely little restaurant—"

"—that my wife owns," Chouji cut in, "while I work as a ninja."

The light bantering continued on, talk flying around them as they approached their destination. The first woman listened quietly as she led them to the spot she unfailingly remembered each year—after all, it was the burial site of one of her best friends.

She remembered the first trip they'd ever made, the first anniversary. It had been heavy, downcast, pouring, all in their own minds. They had all been tarnished by the thought of _him_ and all the unpleasant _(yearning) _memories he brought, of their failure, of everything he had been. They had remembered too hard.

The second time was easier. They tried not to think as much. The third time, they learned that if they just pretended that _he _was still here, they could get through this easier; by then, most had started seeking their spouse. The fourth time they packed a picnic. Each time was subtly different, until at last they created the strange mixture of guilt and sorrow and happiness and longing and bittersweet joy all wrapped in one day. They would reflect on their worries, talk to the grave for a bit, laugh, share news (something that had grown scarcer and scarcer as people grew busier, achieving ranks of ANBU and jounin and top medics, hardly sparing time to talk to their old childhood friends anymore) and just remember.

_We will never forget you._

"Sakura," Ino murmured, nudging her friend in the side. The woman turned to look at her, hardly aware that she had reached their destination so soon. The rest of them chose to ignore Sakura's more erratic behavior on such days; it wasn't her fault she became absent-minded and distracted whenever Naruto's 'death' anniversary came up. It was the same on the anniversary of the day Kakashi died or the day Sasuke left—though they had never all gone to mourn him.

They stepped forward through the lush, soft grass, the sunlight filtering cleanly through the trees just beginning to bloom. It was going to be an early spring this year, Sakura could tell already.

Five shadows detached themselves from the trees. An older, taller man with the same distinct features as years before bounded forward, clutching at Sakura's hand exuberantly. His love hadn't died for her over the years, but it had morphed into something different—family love, if one wanted to put it that way. "Sakura-san! Someone has been here already."

"Lee, let her go," scolded a woman with light brown hair, clutching a dog ANBU mask in her hand. On her back was a plethora of scrolls and weapons, clearly meant to deceive and frighten the enemy. The ANBU platoon must have come right from reporting to the Hokage. Tenten nodded to Neji, Sai, and Shino, who joined them moments later. "But it's true. I think it was Tsunade-sama who visited; she left her necklace."

"Oh, the crystal one." Sai nodded thoughtfully, drifting away. He still acted as eccentric as his past self had, and was now pulling out a sketchpad. Nobody bothered him as he began to sketch out the scene before him, because this was how he coped with the anniversary. There were ten sketches of their meetings so far.

"She'll come pick it up by the end of the day as normal," Neji said, as he tied his hair back with one smooth movement. He hitched his mask onto his belt, still clad in ANBU gear that he discarded casually. His katana clattered next to Sai's; Lee unstrapped his nunchucks, having preferred to use a more taijutsu style approach to his killing methods. The hooded, tall man left in the shadows took off his mask while sliding his glasses on in one move, preventing any of them from seeing his eyes. Hinata and Kiba were the only ones to approach their old comrade, Shino.

They chatted, sharing information casually or lazing around in the sun. _'How is your kid doing?' 'I hear they're going to be put on the same team, you know?' 'Isn't that exciting? My girl's way smarter than yours.' 'What did you say, Ino-pig?' 'Don't call me that!' 'Keep that expression—it's quite idiotic looking.' 'Sai…' 'Did you see Kurenai lately? I hear Akane became a chunin!' 'How Gai? Did he take on another team?' 'He's so proud!' 'Someone else died… the death rate's certainly less than ten years ago, though.' 'Don't you remember this…?' 'Tomorrow…'_

The conversations continued between odd groups or pairs as they conversed softly in the sun, ignoring the people filing one by one up to the plaque on the ground, weathered by rain but still shining brightly in the sunlight, so much like Naruto's own spirit.

They would bring offerings, nothing much, usually ramen or other trivial things Naruto had enjoyed. Maybe they would kneel and offer a few words, pat the stone, or just stare at it for a while before some other member called them back irritably and said _'Stop hogging the spot already! I want my turn!' _Because the Konoha 10 never came to meet Naruto on any other day or without the accompaniment of the rest of their childhood friends, they usually chose to exchange meaningful sentiments with the stone representing their friend, whether it be via objects or words.

It never mattered to any of them that Naruto wasn't actually _there _but out in the open world somewhere, watching, hunting, leaving.

It was another unspoken sentiment to let Sakura go last.

They weren't worried _(that much) _about her suddenly breaking down like she had years ago again, becoming somewhat insane from losing precious people. It was just something they unconsciously agreed to—she was one of the closest to Naruto, so she should have however long she needed to, right?

Sai's figure stood up soundlessly in the afternoon light, muttering a farewell to the plaque quietly before drifting back to his sketchbook. The pink-haired woman took her place before the stone then, head bowed, and everyone turned their head. They weren't putting on the farce some civilians did, pretending not to watch while sneakily peeking out in their peripheral vision, nor were they particularly keen on listening. Sakura never cried anymore and she never gave teary confessions; she merely talked like it was an everyday thing—like each anniversary was just one hour after another and not with a whole year's worth of time in between…not like so much had changed between those days.

The sky had started spiking in starbursts of pink and orange, snaking across the near-twilight when the shinobi began gathering their things. Ino was the first to go, saying something about _'My husband is waiting, getting so tired already, being pregnant is hard!' _and departing. Shikamaru and Kiba's old team quickly followed; Chouji left with Lee and Neji. Tenten smiled at Sakura and Sai before too gathering her weapons, finishing her report with a flourish, and vanishing into the thick cover of oncoming night.

The pale man packed up his supplies, deliberately not looking at Sakura. She didn't need to say it out loud the fact that she wanted, needed him gone for the next part of their meeting, for while the Konoha 10 always came together to greet Naruto on this day, they never left at the same time.

"Be back soon, Sakura," was Sai's quiet goodbye as he blended in to the forest.

As soon as his footsteps faded from her hearing, Sakura blurred into action. Her eyes had the brightness of when she was twelve and waiting for their first mission with Team 7, scrambling as she searched around the fringe of trees opposite of the plaque. She found what she was looking for under an ash white birch tree, carefully hidden under a tangle of slithering white roots—her annual sign.

Sakura sank back against the bark, leaning her head back. She pressed the gift to her lips, softly, sighing as the familiar scents reached her nose. As far as she was aware, nobody else in Konoha knew of this little parting gift always stuck in a tree near the grave. Not even Tsunade, and as selfish as it was of her, Sakura couldn't bring herself to share Naruto's gift.

While she would never love Naruto _like that, _she couldn't help yearning to keep what little of his own warped care _(never love, not anymore, the greatest mistake of all) _she could get.

She unwrapped the cloth carefully, watching as a rusty red color appeared on the white fabric, blooming across it ungracefully. A strand of blond hair whipped into the wind, flying away, and Sakura's eyes widened as she saw a following lock of black. "Sasuke," she mouthed, before smiling again, this time tears coming inexplicably to her eyes. Her two boys were still alive, and that was all she could hope for. That was all she needed, a sign of their survival, and their unbroken, unsaid promise to remain alive despite their dangerous careers until the day came they would die.

And then, Sakura promised herself, they would die together.

A few minutes later, she was leaping over the trees again, contented yet already longing for next year's anniversary.

_I'll be waiting._

* * *

><p>"Ne, ne… I bet I know something you don't!"<p>

"No way. I know everything!"

"Just because you're the top of the class doesn't mean you're that smart. Besides, my mother told me this, and she said very few people knew—and my mother's the smartest kunoichi in the village."

"Says who? My mother's way smarter."

"No—!"

"Yes—!"

"Shh, all of you! Just let him say his story already, then he'll shut up."

"Hey, I thought you were on my side… Eep, no need to look like that at me! We're on the same team after all… okay, I'm telling you!"

"Then get on with it!"

"See, there's this legendary hero. He's the bravest of them all, the most courageous, the best at his time. He loved Konoha very much, and he never hesitated to help the village."

"What's so amazing about that? There's lots of them out there—in fact, I'm gonna be one of them myself!"

"No, no, see, this one is different. He left the village after a while, but before you say he isn't really a hero, my mother said it wasn't what his actions did that determined his reputation. It didn't matter if he was seen as evil or forgotten or a traitor. All that he needed were people who still believed in him, who still remembered him, who still loved him. And he had those people—they loved him to pieces, even when others couldn't remember his very name anymore. He had precious people, and they knew he was still a hero."

"…Wow, you sounded almost smart there."

"Hey! But, ne, ne, you have to admit, wasn't that a pretty amazing story?"

"I don't think it's true."

"It is!"

"Oh yeah? Then tell me this hero's name!"

"…"

"See, you don't even know who this _hero _is! It doesn't matter how much friends someone has, a hero is only a hero if people remember who they are. Moron."

"That's not true! He did have a name, but my mother said her mother wouldn't tell her. She said her mother would go out every year on one specific day, but she didn't know where because her mother would never allow her to follow her. She would merely smile and leave before coming back more happy than before. It's true!"

"Insist all you want, we need proof. A name."

"I don't know his name, but I do know something else. They called him by this too, my mother's mother and her group of 'childhood friends', or so my mother said."

"Are they still alive? Maybe we can ask them."

"You idiot, they're probably old now."

"So that means that they're senile?"

"No, you three—see, they won't talk about him anymore. They just passed it on to their sons and daughters, and then told them to pass it on to their sons and daughters. This way, we'll all know the hero's inspiring story and aspire to be like them ourselves."

"It would be more inspiring if we had a name—"

"Oh! I remember now. I remember what my mother said her mother called him, with this peaceful, serene smile on her face. It was like she was miles away, thinking about him."

"Then what was it?"

"It was…"

_The Dark Angel of Konoha._

* * *

><p><strong>Speech time! :) Thankyouthankyouthankyou and a million more to everyone who reviewed or favorite-d or alerted or even <strong>_**read **_**this story! It truly means the world to me ^^ and so much more sappy stuff. Basically, I love you guys all, and of course it's the readers that motivate the author (not only reviews, lol I learned!) And while Dark Angel may be done for now (until I edit it) I am certainly not going to disappear, so expect some more from me and stick me on author alert *wink, hint* just kidding :P I'm glad everyone stuck through with me to the end! And I hope the very last part wasn't too confusing.**

**And for those random newcomers in the future, hello and thanks for reading. You're awesome too. **

**Now, one more thing to say: I hope the epilogue has turned out satisfactory. Other than that, if any part of the story is not to your liking, please tell me so I can change it when I edit; for example, beginning, ending, fight scenes, plot, etc. (You can find this in my profile too, so…) I wish to improve! Yeah! *pumps fist* And now, thanks for bearing through with my over excessive shouting and egging, my gleefulness at finally finishing something, and all the thanks I cannot stop pouring on you. Aww, I can write sap.**

**So we say, **_**au revoir, zai jian, sayonara, ja ne, adios, **_**and so much more. But I prefer to say 'see you again soon', because I most definitely will :)**

**Till then,**

**~gummybear1620**

**P.S. I can't resist. Review!**


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